FWIW - Industrial Spending in China
Paris, Friday, February 12, 1999
China Industrial Output Rises Amid Government Outlays
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Compiled by Our Staff From Dispatches
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BEIJING - Chinese industrial output surged 17.9 percent in January from a year earlier, growing at more than double the rate of expansion in 1998, the Xinhua press agency reported Thursday, citing the State Statistics Bureau.
Industrial output reached 151 billion yuan ($18.24 billion) following government efforts to invigorate the economy through heavy spending.
Power generation, a key barometer of activity in the industrial sector, rose 10 percent, in sharp contrast to the 1 percent growth registered a year earlier. Cement production was up 37.2 percent in the year through January, while heavy industry as a whole grew 19.1 percent.
China launched a $12 billion infrastructure spending program last year as economic and industrial growth slowed alarmingly.
''A steep rise in the growth rates indicates that the country has at last dragged its industrial sector out of the doldrums thanks to the government's pump-priming measures,'' the China Daily said.
But economists were reserving judgment on the increase in output until the release of data for February. Chinese economic statistics for the first two months of the year are always affected by the timing of the Lunar New Year festival. Southeast Asian markets are also affected by the festival.
The festival this year falls in mid-February, compared with the end of January last year. For instance, the later date for the festival may mean that retail spending in January appears weaker than a year earlier as consumers this year hold off on much of their shopping until February.
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Mark A. Peterson |
