BEIJING–China’s economy grew faster than expected in 2010.
The country’s gross domestic product expanded 10.3 percent in 2010, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. Beijing had set a full-year growth target of 8 percent in 2010, taking the financial crisis into consideration.
“In the past year, China has consolidated and boosted its recovery from the global financial crisis, and the national economy is generally operating well,” Ma Jiantang, head of the statistics bureau, said. “The country is at a key stage of turning recovery into stable growth.”
China’s GDP grew 9.2 percent in 2009.
The agency said the economy experienced a higher-than-expected growth of 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, up from 9.6 percent in the third quarter. Inflation fell in December to 4.8 percent, from 5.1 percent in November. Overall inflation for 2010 was at 3.3 percent.
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Inflation has been an increasing concern, especially after the government injected billions of dollars into the economy as part of a stimulus package to fend off the global financial crisis. Chinese have been complaining of rising food prices, with some products going up 25 percent in recent months.
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Economists say dampening inflation will be a key focus for the market in the year ahead.
“Inflation will continue to be a problem” Zhao Jian, a professor of economics at Beijing Jiaotong University, said. “They [the government] may have injected too much money into the economy.”
The government has been taking steps to curtail rising prices. On Friday, the country’s central bank raised reserve requirements for banks for the fourth time in just over two months, and the seventh since the beginning of 2010. China raised interest rates twice last year — in October and in December.
The agency said China’s consumer price index rose 3.3 percent last year, compared to a drop of 0.7 percent in 2009. Food prices increased 7.2 percent. The CPI rose 4.6 percent in December, down from November’s 5.1 percent rise, which was a two-year high.
The producer price index for manufactured goods rose 5.5 percent year-on-year in 2010. The PPI rose 5.9 percent in December, down from November’s 6.1 percent increase.
Total retail sales of consumer goods reached increased 18.4 percent in 2010, or experienced a “real growth” of 14.8 percent after deducting price factors. Sales of gold, silver and jewelry rose by 46 percent. Furniture sales went up by 37.2 percent while automobiles grew by 34.8 percent, the statistics bureau said.