DATE=1/4/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA ECON (L)
NUMBER=2-257752
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: China's top economic planner says he expects the
country to maintain seven percent economic growth this year
and predicts that the deflation that has plagued China for
the past two years will flatten out. VOA correspondent
Roger Wilkison reports the official also says China has no
plans in the foreseeable future to devalue its currency.
TEXT: Zeng Peiyan -- the chairman of China's State
Development Planning Commission -- told reporters Tuesday
Beijing will continue massive infrastructure spending to
help stimulate economic growth as a response to flagging
domestic demand. Speaking through an interpreter, he says
he is confident the country's growth rate will hold steady
at around seven percent during the year 2000.
/////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////
We can maintain the economic growth rate that was achieved
in 1999. We are confident. We don't think there will be
problems.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
China registered seven-point-one percent growth last year,
down from seven-point-eight percent the year before. Mr.
Zeng refused to give a specific target for this year,
saying that would be decided in March by the National
People's Congress, China's legislature.
The planning official also threw cold water on fears of a
devaluation of China's yuan currency, saying Beijing's
healthy 30-billion-dollar trade surplus and a recent
rebound in exports argue against such a move.
Beijing's chief planner admits that China is still
frustrated by lackluster consumer spending. And he says it
is necessary for the government to continue its multi-
billion dollar pump-priming effort to pull the economy out
of a 20-month deflationary spiral. Last year, Beijing
spent more than 24 billion dollars on such projects as
water conservation and transportation systems to stimulate
economic growth. But Mr. Zeng says he thinks deflation
will bottom out by the end of 2000.
/////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////
I think maybe at the end of the year the situation will be
something like a balance rather than a minus or a positive.
/////END ACTUALITY/////
The government has increased the salaries of many state
workers to encourage them to buy such items as apartments,
automobiles and electronic goods. But many Chinese are
afraid to spend, because they fear losing their jobs as the
government continues to overhaul decrepit state-owned
enterprises and lay off workers. Mr. Zeng says the
government plans to lower taxes and improve social welfare
services to soften the impact of the reforms. But he
acknowledges that an oversupply of both agricultural
products and industrial goods is hampering efforts to stop
prices from declining further.
Before Mr. Zeng spoke, reporters were given a government
document calling for the elimination of all obstacles to
the development of private enterprise. It says private
companies should be granted the same access to capital as
that enjoyed by state-run firms -- a suggestion that is
likely to be welcomed by entrepreneurs, who complain that
they have no access to bank loans or the stock markets.
(SIGNED)
NEB/RW/FC
04-Jan-2000 05:11 AM EDT (04-Jan-2000 1011 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
