The economic situation in Hunan Province during January to August 2005

Sources: Statistic Information, the Provincial Statistic Bureau, Hunan (NO.166)    

During the first eight months of 2005, the economic situation in Hunan Province has been stable and upbeat. The industries above designated size continued to achieve satisfying growth. The investment on fixed assets witnessed a positive increase. With the growth of resident income, the social consumption market kept to be prosperous. The international trading experienced a steady development. The government revenue well balanced the financing expenditure. The general financing operation was stable with the steady pricing level without huge fluctuation.

1.       The industries above designated size continued to achieve satisfying growth.

In the first eight months of the year 2005, the added value created by industries above designated size reached 96.646 billion RMB with a growth by 21.1%, among which the added value by light industries reached 33.796 billion RMB with a growth by 21.6%, while the added value from the heavy industries reached 62.850 billion RMB with a growth by 34.3%. This growth drove the development of industries above designated size to grow by 13.7%, while the contribution rate of heavy industries to the growth of industries above designated size was as high as 65.1% which was significantly higher than the contribution from state-owned and state-sharing enterprises by 30.2%. The added value created by state-owned and state-sharing enterprises reached 50.515 billion RMB with a growth by 11.4%. The top ten industries all witnessed positive growth. During January to August, the added value created by the top ten industries reached 73.366 billion RMB with a growth by 21.8% driving the industries above designated size to grow by 15.9%. The connection between supply and consumption was better with a high rate of 99.49% direct sales from production with a growth by 0.5%.

2.      The investment on fixed assets witnessed a positive increase.

In the same period, the total investment on fixed assets in the whole province reached 143.706 billion RMB with a huge growth by 32.3%. The growth rate was 1.8% faster than the first seven months, which was also the highest growth rate through the year. The urban investment on fixed assets reached 126.607 billion RMB with a growth by 36% and 3.5% faster in growth rate when compared to the same time the year before. The urban investment on the Three Industries reached 1.453 billion RMB, 46.869 billion RMB and 78.285 billion respectively with a growth of 101.9%, 38.1% and 34%.

In the same period, the investment on non-state-owned economic factors reached 89.729 billion RMB with a growth by 41.4%, which took up 62.4% of the total social investment on fixed assets. The growth rate was 4% higher than the same time the year before, which drove the social investment on fixed assets to grow by 24.2%.

3.    With the growth of resident income, the social consumption market kept to be prosperous.

In the first eight months of 2005, the total retail sales income reached 148.471 billion RMB with a growth by 14.3% which equaled the growth rates in the first seven months. Seen from the perspective of retail sales locations, the total retail income in urban areas reached 83.413 billion RMB with a growth by 15.3%. The retail sales income from county-level areas reached 65.058 billion RMB with a growth by 12.9%. Seen from the sale vocations, the wholesale income reached 127.155 billion RMB with a growth by 14.1%. The sales income from restaurants and food business reached 18.993 billion RMB with a growth by 17.1%, while the income from other vocations reached 2.323 billion RMB with a growth by 0.8%.

4. The income of residents grew quickly

In the first eight months, the per capita average disposable income for urban residents of Hunan Province reached 6,455.95 yuan with a growth by 10.4%, among which the personal working income, assets income and transited income achieved the growth by 5.6%, 73.8% and 24.8% respectively. Meanwhile, the Chang-zhu-tan District topped the list of the per capita average disposable income for urban residents with 7,855 yuan and the growth by 12.5%, which was 2.1% higher than the average level of the whole province.

5. The international trading experienced a steady development.

In the first eight months, the total export value achieved of the whole province reached $3.984 US dollars with a growth by 15.2%, which equaled the growth rate with the first seven months. While the import experienced some decrease. The total value from exports was $2.422 billion US dollars with a growth by 32.1%. The total value from imports was 1.563 billion US dollars with a decline by 3.9%.

6. The government revenue well balanced the financing expenditure.

In the same period, the total government revenue reached 48.588 billion RMB with a growth by 21.3% (with the tax on agriculture considered, the same in the follows). The tax handed in to the central government and the provincial tax income reached 19.801 billion RMB and 4.251 billion RMB respectively with the growth by 17.8% and 26.1%. The general government revenue on budget reached 24.536 billion RMB with a growth by 23.4%, among which, the tax payment reached 16.4 billion RMB with a growth by 21.6%, while the income of non-tax payment was 8.136 billion RMB with a growth by 27.2%.

Meanwhile, the total government expenditure reached 43.486 billion RMB with a growth by 24.4%. The major expenditures were effectively covered by revenues. The expenditures on enterprise innovation, infrastructure construction, science and high-tech field, subsidy, social welfare and insurance achieved various increase by 64.8%, 28.8%, 32%, 43.6% and 72.9% respectively.

7. The general financing operation was stable

At the end of August, the bank savings of the whole province reached 632.749 billion RMB with a growth of 68.331 billion RMB and a rate by 5.7%, among which, the resident bank savings reached a growth by 26.9%, while other savings such as enterprise savings, government savings, savings for other institutes all decreased accordingly. The enterprise savings decreased distinctly by 20.7%.

Meanwhile, the loans from different bank and financing institutes reached 453.045 billion RMB with a growth of 46.946 billion RMB and a growth rate by 6%. The growth on bill financing loans was very rapid with the growth by 131.6%.

8. The pricing level was stable with slight dropping trend

In the first eight months, the provincial resident consumption price index was 103.1% with a 0.2% decrease compared to the first seven months. The resident consumption price index in urban areas was 102.6%, while the index in rural areas was 104.0% The retail price index was 102.7% with a 0.1% decrease compared to the first seven months.

In the same period, the ex-factory price index of industrial products was 106.4% with a 0.1% decrease compared to the first seven months. While the ex-factory prices for products of coal mining, non-ferrous metal refinery, oil refinery, nuclear fuel, chemical materials and chemical products manufacturing still experienced large growth by 38.3%, 44.7%, 22.7% and 14.6% respectively. Meanwhile, buy-in price index for materials, resources and power was 110.7% with a decrease by 0.2%, among which, the prices on fuels, non-ferrous metal materials and chemical materials still raised by 18.8%, 13.7% and 13.2% respectively.

As seen from the analysis above, the general situation of the economy operation of Hunan Province was upbeat. However, a lot of problems still cannot be underestimated. For instance, the effect of the international oil price was one of the problems. The oil price in New York on 19^th September was raised irrationally by $4.39 US dollars with the price set at $67.39 US dollars per barrel, which reached a growth by 50% compared to the oil price at $45 US dollars per barrel. As the arrival of winter, the need for heating oil is also heated up. According to the authoritative preview from some international agencies, the oil price will stay at this high level for a longer while. What’s more, the price of materials for agricultural production was also very high, which further built up an income gap between urban and rural residents damaging the social balance of the whole province. In this period of the first eight months of 2005, the divided proportion of the highest household income by the lowest household income reached as high as 9.56:1, which was a distinct growth when compared to the proportion of 6.75:1 the year before.