4. Sales on domestic markets continued to accelerate, with higher growth rate at or below county level than that in cities. In the first half of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 5,871.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 15.0 percent (up by 15.0 percent in June), and the real growth was16.6 percent after deducting the price factors, which was 3.7 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year. The retail sales in cities reached 3,983.3 billion yuan, up by 14.4 percent, and the retail sales at and below county level stood at 1,887.8 billion yuan, up by 16.4 percent. Grouped by different sectors, the sales by wholesale and retail businesses went up by 14.7 percent, that by lodging and catering industry up by 18.1 percent. Among the sales by wholesale and retail businesses above designated size, the sales of furniture and vehicles witnessed growth of 28.3 percent and 18.1 percent respectively.

5. The growth rate of consumer prices continued to decline while the year-on-year change of producers’ prices witnessed large margin decline. In the first half of this year, the consumer price index went down by 1.1 percent (1.7 percent decrease in June and its month-on-month change down by 0.5 percentage point). The price dropped by 1.3 percent in cities and 0.6 percent in rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for tobacco, liquor and articles rose by 1.7 percent, price for household facilities, articles and maintenance services up by 1.3 percent, health care and personal articles up by 1.1 percent; prices for food down by 0.3 percent, clothing down by 2.4 percent. Transportation and communication down by 2.5 percent, recreation, education, culture articles and services down by 0.7 percent, and housing down by 3.9 percent. In the first half of this year, the retail prices of commodities dropped by 1.4 percent year on year (2.3 percent down in June). The producers’ prices for manufactured goods went down by 5.9 percent (7.8 percent down in June). The purchaser’s prices for raw materials, fuel and power decreased by 8.7 percent (by 11.2 percent in June). The year-on-year growth of the prices for housing in 70 large and medium-sized cities went down by 0.8 percent (0.2 percent up in June).

6. The foreign trade continued to drop sharply with a slight decrease of trade surplus. The total value of imports and exports for the first half was US$ 946.1 billion, down by 23.5 percent year-on-year. The value of exports was US$ 521.5 billion, down by 21.8 percent, and the value of imports was US$ 424.6 billion, down 25.4 percent. The trade surplus was US$ 96.9 billion, a decrease of US$ 2.1 billion over the same period last year.

7. The income of urban and rural residents continued to grow with large increase in transfer income. In the first half of this year, the per capita income of urban households was 9,667 yuan. Of this total, the per capita disposable income of urban population was 8,856 yuan, a year-on-year growth of 9.8 percent, or a real growth of 11.2 after deducting price factors. Of the per capita income of urban residents, the income from wages and salaries was 6,394 yuan, up by 11.1 percent, transfer income was 2,273 yuan, up 16.0 percent, net income from operations was 778 yuan, up 3.9 percent, and the property income was 222, up by 9.1 percent. The per capita cash income of rural population was 2,733 yuan, up by 8.1 percent year-on-year, or 8.1 percent growth in real term. Of this total, the income from wages and salaries was 954 yuan, up by 8.4 percent, income from household operations was 1,512 yuan, up 5.5 percent, property income 78 yuan, up 9.9 percent, and the transfer income was 189 yuan, up by 31.4 percent.

8. The money supply grew rapidly with sharp increase in loans of financial institutions. By the end of June, the supply of broad money (M2) was 56.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 28.5 percent, which was 10.6 percentage points higher than that at the end of last year; that of the narrow money (M1) was 19.3 trillion yuan, a rise of 24.8 percent, or 15.7 percentage points higher; and the cash in circulation (M0) was 3.4 trillion yuan, up by 11.5 percent or 1.2 percentage points lower. The amount of outstanding loans of all financial institutions was 37.7 trillion yuan, increased by 7.4 trillion yuan over that at the beginning of this year, or a rise of 4.9 trillion yuan as compared with the same period last year. The amount of outstanding deposits of all financial institutions was 56.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 10.0 trillion yuan over the beginning of the year, or 5.0 trillion yuan more than the same period last year.

There are many difficulties and challenges existing in current national economic performance. The base for recovery is still infirm, the momentum for picking up is unstable, the recovery pattern is unbalanced, and thus there are still uncertain and volatile factors in the recovering progress. In the coming period, we should thoroughly apply the scientific approach on development, adhere to the decisions made by the central government on economic work, uphold the proactive fiscal policies and moderate monetary policies, fully implement the measures for fighting against the international financial crisis, further enhance the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of policies, make efforts in consolidating and promoting the recovery momentum of economy, pay more attention to secure and improve people’s livelihood, vigorously promote the structural adjustment and independent innovation, accelerate the nurturing of new growth points, improve the quality of economic recovery and make our efforts to realize a sound and fast growth of the national economy.

(National Bureau of Statistics July 16, 2009)