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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Zia Sun(zsun) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Francois Goelo who wrote (1316)	5/2/1999 1:11:00 AM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10354

CHINA: Growth remains robust By James Harding in Shanghai China yesterday reported strong but slowing economic growth of 8.3 per cent in the first quarter of 1999, compared with the same period a year before, as hefty government spending failed fully to offset the decline in foreign investment and exports. The robust headline growth figure comes despite component statistics which suggest a more patchy picture of the Chinese economy. Foreign direct investment fell by 14.6 per cent in the first three months of this year to $7.34bn, compared with the same period in 1998, it was announced yesterday. This added to expectations foreign investment into China will fall this year for the first time in the 1990s. Exports, which have not registered negative growth for 15 years, have fallen by 7.9 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter. Beijing said last week deflation was showing no sign of letting up after more than a year and a half, as the retail price index fell by 3.2 per cent in March year-on-year. The overall and still emerging impression is of a resilient economy in mixed health. Gross domestic product was Rmb1,678bn ($202bn) in the first three months of this year, a rise of 8.3 per cent, the state statistical bureau said yesterday. Zhu Rongji, China's prime minister, said on his tour of the US last week that he expected China to outstrip the 7.8 per cent growth achieved last year as well as the growth target of 7 per cent set by Beijing for 1999. China's first-quarter growth, though, still represents a deceleration from the last quarter of 1998, when the Chinese economy grew by roughly 9 per cent, state statisticians said. Combined fixed asset investment by state and foreign-invested companies grew by 22.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 1998.