The growth accelerated during the period from 7.6 percent in the first quarter to 8 percent in the second quarter, Qiu Xiaohua, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office.

The Chinese Government has continued to carry out a pro-active fiscal policy and sound monetary policy to expand domestic demand, Qiu said.

The government has also actively developed the foreign-related economy, has given key emphasis to structural adjustment and has regularized market order, he said.

As a result "all indicators are better than expected; the national economy, generally speaking, is operating under a healthy trend," Qiu said.

The excellent economic performance during the first half of the year was mainly because of the better-than-expected industrial output driven by the increases in investment, exports and consumption, said Zhang Xueying, a senior expert with the State Information Office.

During the first half of the year, China's industrial production by State-owned companies and non-State-owned companies with annual sales of more than 5 million yuan (US$602,409) grew a year-on-year 11.7 percent to 1,446 billion yuan (US$174.2 billion).

China's fixed assets investment rose 21.5 percent to 1,446.2 billion yuan (US$174.2 billion), and the retail sales grew 8.6 percent to 1,944.8 billion yuan (US$234.3 billion).

The country's exports grew a year-on-year 14.1 percent to US$142.1 billion.

"While affirming the achievements, we should give key attention to the problems we are facing," Li Peng, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said yesterday at a conference held by the NPC Financial and Economic Committee.

China's consumer prices have continuously declined since the second half of last year, Li said.

"Key attention should be given to the negative effect brought in by the continuous falling prices," he said.

(China Daily July 16, 2002)