Zhu Zhixin, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a press conference that the added value of the primary industry was 1461 billion yuan, up 2.8 percent, and that of the secondary industry was 4,906.9 billion yuan, up 8.7 percent, and that of the tertiary industry was 3,225.4 billion yuan, up 7.4 percent.

The completed investment in fixed assets of the country in 2001 was 3,689.8 billion yuan, up 12.1 percent over the previous year.

In 2001, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 3,759.5 billion yuan, up 10.1 percent over the previous year.

China's total volume of imports and exports in 2001 reached 509.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 7.5 percent over the previous year.

Zhu said, last year's export value was 266.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 6.8 percent, and import value was 243.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 8.2 percent. Last year China had a trade surplus of 22.5 billion U.S. dollars, a decline of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars over the previous year.

He said that direct foreign investment registered rapid growth. The actually utilized foreign direct investment was 46.8 billion U.S. dollars, up 14.9 percent over the previous year.

Foreign exchange reserves continued to grow. By the end of last year, China's foreign exchange reserves reached 212.2 billion U.S. dollars an increase of 46.6 billion U.S. dollars as compared with that at the end of the previous year.

The exchange rate of Renminbi, the local currency, stood at one U.S. dollar for 8.2766 RMB yuan at the end of the year, appreciating 15 basic points as compared with the end of the previous year.

In 2001, the overall level of consumer prices was up by 0.7 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the consumer price level in urban areas was up 0.7 percent, and it was 0.8 percent in rural areas.

The annual per capita disposable income of urban households was 6,860 yuan in 2001, a real increase of 8.5 percent. The per capita net income of rural households was 2,366 yuan, a real growth of 4.2 percent.

Zhu pointed out, despite the slow-down of the world economy in 2001, Chinese economy still kept sustained and healthy growth.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2002)