Per capita disposable incomes in urban areas, home to a third of the nation's 1.3 billion people, rose 7.7 percent in real terms to 9,422 yuan last year. Net incomes in rural areas, which were boosted by increased grain production and higher food prices, climbed 6.8 percent to 2,936 yuan per person. Incomes haven't risen faster since 1997, the statistics bureau said.
``If you look at household income, as opposed to individuals, by 2020, there will be 100 million households with disposable incomes equivalent to western Europe today,' said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, economic adviser to MasterCard International Inc., the world's second-biggest credit-card network by number of cards.``That's how powerful the demand side driver is.'
China's retail sales rose 13 percent last year to 5.4 trillion yuan, exceeding the GDP of the Netherlands, Europe's sixth-largest economy. The nation's urban jobless rate was 4.2 percent at the end of last year, down from 4.3 percent a year earlier, the statistics bureau reported today.
This is the problem with both Rogers and Van Eden I believe... They seem still focused on the US as the sole driver of demand... Maybe by 2020 the Chinese government will be complaining that there is too much outsourcing to the US to take advantage of comparatively cheap labour rates driven by a soaring ... renimbi :o) |
