Beijing's GDP up 9.6% in first 9 months
( 2002-10-15 09:10 ) (1 )

Beijing municipality's gross domestic product (GDP) reached nearly 215.3 billion yuan (US$26 billion) in the first nine months of this year, a rise of 9.6 per cent over the same period last year.

The service sector was still a strong area for economic growth and achieved an added value of nearly 130.5 billion yuan (US$15.8 billion), up 11.1 per cent on last year, according to figures released by the Beijing Development Planning Commission on Monday.

The main areas of positive change were in the fields of investment and consumption, import and export, local government revenue, as well as the income of urban and rural residents.

The brisk consumption market saw an increase of 16.7 per cent in September, the highest growth rate over the past three years.

Automobiles, housing, and catering sectors were the highlights of the consumer market during the past nine months.

A total of 197,000 automobiles were sold from January to September, a rise of 15.3 per cent.

The sale of housing was 24.8 billion yuan (US$3 billion), up 19.6 per cent.

The catering trade achieved 8.12 billion yuan (US$982 million) in retail sales, an increase of 13.8 per cent over the same period last year.

Meanwhile, tourism has maintained its lead position as a big money earner. During the National Day Holiday from October 1 to 7, the city hosted a total of 3.13 million tourists, who brought in 2.81 billion yuan (US$340 million), an increase of 10.6 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

Individual consumer credit is one of the main factors driving the city's booming housing, automobile and other durable consumer goods industries, according to Liu Ye, an official with the People's Bank of China.

She said housing loans in Beijing were the fastest growing sector of consumer credit and reached 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion) between 1998 and August this year.

Car loans, meanwhile, have helped Beijingers buy 42,106 vehicles between January and August 2002, increasing by 264 per cent over the same period last year, said Liu.

Outstanding personal car loans for the first eight months of the year has amounted to 8.3 billion yuan (US$1 billion), increased by 328 per cent from a year earlier.

Liu said revised management regulations, soon to be announced in respect of car loans are likely to encourage more people to purchase cars as the requirements for obtaining loans will be relaxed.

The city's earlier decline in exports has, since July, ended and export volume reached 580 million yuan (US$70 million) in August, a rise of 38.8 per cent from July.

The main reason for the growth in exports was the favourable turn in the manufacturing sector, in particular the increasing export of computers and telecommunications products, according to the commission.