The growth accelerated during the period from 7.6 per cent in the first quarter to 8 per cent 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, given key emphasis to structural adjustment and has also 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 per cent to 1,446 billion yuan (US$174.2 billion).

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

The country's exports grew a year-on-year 14.1 per cent 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 Monday 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.

Measures should be taken to explore new consumption areas and foster hot consumption areas, he said, while efforts should also be made to increase farmers' income and improve farmers' living conditions and consumption environment.

"We will try our best to increase the employment rate in the urban areas and implement preferential policies for the re-employment of the laid-off workers,'' he said.

Attention should also be given to coping with natural disasters, work safety and maintaining social stability, he concluded.

(China Daily July 16, 2002)