China's economy grew at a blistering 11.4 percent last year, the fastest in 13 years, the government said yesterday, warning more must be done to address the rising threat of inflation.
The Asian juggernaut saw a fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth, with inflation at an 11-year high, the National Bureau of Statistics said, admitting that overheating remained a threat.
"The risk of the economy shifting from rapid [growth] to overheating still exists," Xie Fuzhan (謝伏瞻), the bureau's head, told a briefing in Beijing.
China's economy last year totalled 24.7 trillion yuan (US$3.4 trillion at year-end exchange rates).
Growth in the fourth quarter of last year was 11.2 percent, a slight moderation from 11.5 percent in the third quarter, the bureau said.
Growth in Asia's second-largest economy was boosted by record exports and massive spending on infrastructure.
The bureau confirmed previously released statistics which showed the trade surplus last year soared 47.7 percent to US$262.2 billion.
Investment in fixed assets, covering everything from bridges to new equipment in factories, rose 24.8 percent last year, the bureau said.
The rapid expansion came despite government efforts to cool the economy, including six interest rate hikes last year, amid concerns that inflation was rising to uncomfortable levels.
The statistics bureau said inflation last year had struck 4.8 percent, the steepest increase in 11 years. Last month, the consumer price index was up 6.5 percent.
"A sharp increase in a range of daily necessities is causing deep pain to the vast poor majorities of rural population and a large percentage of China's low-income urban population," Sumei Tang, an economist with ratings agency Moody's, said in a report on the figures.
"Failure to deal with inflation could incite social and political tensions," Tang said.
Inflation has been fueled mainly by a spike in food prices. The bureau said prices of meat, poultry and related products soared 31.7 percent last year.
However, imported inflation was another factor, Xie said, citing high oil prices.
"We need a number of measures to control price rises, but it will take time for these measures to show their effectiveness," Xie said.
Economists said China was constrained by what it could do, as a further hike in interest rates would widen the spread with US rates, which were sharply cut earlier in the week.
The spread could trigger further capital inflows to China, worsening inflation.
"China will not adopt multiple rate hikes. Rather, it will adopt credit controls and measures such as stricter approval procedures for new projects," said Wang Tao, a Beijing-based economist with Bank of America.
Growth is expected to remain robust at more than 10 percent this year, analysts said, but they added a looming global slowdown could aid Beijing's attempts to cool the economy.
"We look for headline GDP growth to moderate to 10.5 percent in 2008 ... as we expect sluggishness in the global economy to continue to weigh on near-term demand for China's exports," JP Morgan said in a response to the GDP figures.
Xie also hinted a weakening US economy could help ease Chinese growth.
"The slowdown of the US economy will have a negative impact on the world economy," he said, adding Beijing was "closely watching" US developments.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from