The country's GDP rose 10.2% during the first three months of the year thanks to rapid trade growth, President Hu Jintao announced in a televised address. This comes after China's economy grew 9.9% in 2005, including 9.9% in the final quarter, although Hu stressed that attention was now focused on efficiency and quality of development. "We are paying more attention to the transformation of the mode of growth, resource conservation, environmental protection and more importantly the improvement of the lives of the people," he said. These latest figures, on the back of earlier statistics showing a 41.4% year-on-year rise in China's first quarter trade surplus, are likely to intensify US calls for revaluation of the yuan during Hu's upcoming visit. At an earlier cabinet meeting, Premier Wen Jiabao said the main problems facing China's economy were "too rapid growth of investment and credit, a relatively high money supply and a structural contradiction of foreign trade."
Categories