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Positive changes in economy, Wen

— Photo: Xinhua

Signs of revival: The 73rd China Electronics Fair in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province, recently. More than 2,000 suppliers of electronic products took part in the fair.

PATTAYA (Thailand): Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said the Chinese economy showed signs of better than expected positive changes in the first quarter, as a result of stimulation by a series of policy measures adopted.

Firstly, the domestic demand rose on a sustainable basis. Meanwhile, investment in fixed assets increased rapidly and consumer demand grew steadily and relatively rapidly. Though lower than the same period of last year, imports and exports grew on a month-on-month basis in the three-month period, said Mr. Wen in an interview with Hong Kong and Macao reporters here on Saturday.

This indicates that some sectors and enterprises in China are in a process of gradual recovery.

Secondly, industries above the designated size registered month-on-month growth, with a year-on-year increase of 3.8 per cent in both January and February, and a year-on-year increase of 8.3 per cent in March.

Thirdly, the purchase management index and the entrepreneur confidence index of the manufacturing industry both rose, indicating that the Chinese economy has begun to stabilise and recover in some fields, according to Mr. Wen.

And fourthly, the market confidence went up and the economy became more active over the first three months, with increases in both the stock market and housing market transaction volumes.

The positive performance in economic fields suggests that the policies adopted by the central government of China have been timely and correct, and have led to successes, he noted. Mr. Wen was here to attend the ASEAN summit and related meetings.

Mr. Wen said China’s economy was still facing very serious hardship, which can be attributed to the drop in external demand and a relatively sharp fall in exports. This has negatively impacted export enterprises, export-oriented industries and export-oriented zones, and has resulted in decreases in business profit making, declines in financial revenues and heavier pressure on employment, he said.

As the international financial crisis is deepening and spreading, we should never lose vigilance, Mr. Wen warned. As the crisis has not touched its bottom, we can hardly say that the Chinese economy alone has got out of the crisis. China cannot save the world, nor can it survive without the world, Mr. Wen said. What we should do is to exert our utmost efforts to minimise the effect of the crisis, he said.

Asked whether China would introduce additional economic stimulus plans, Mr. Wen said the government should now step up efforts to carry out the policies and measures of the existing stimulus package. The earlier they are put into effect, the more beneficial and active they will be, he said. — Xinhua

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