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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| Stimulus plan paying off: China |
| 2009-03-16 |
| China's 4-trillion-yuan (about $588 billions) stimulus plan is paying off, providing the country with time to wait for a revival of the world economy, said experts. Four months after China launched the two-year investment plan, which is intended to revitalise the world's third largest economy, its industrial output growth appears to be recovering and the decline in its imports has started to ease. Industrial output grew 3.8 per cent in the first two months this year down from the 5.7 per cent increase in December. The government did not release the January industrial output figure separately from the two month total, but said output grew 11 per cent in February. That increase was the first double-digit monthly gain since October, said the National Bureau of Statistics. It should be noted that February statistics have all been affected by the shift in the Lunar New Year, which came two weeks earlier this year than in 2008 and resulted in more working days in the second month. "Statistics of industrial output last month signalled a good start of this year's production," Zuo Xiaolei with Galaxy Securities told Xinhua. It reflected the impact of the stimulus package on economic growth, she said. Industrial power use, cement output, coal and steel production all grew year-on-year in February, even as the global downturn cut China's exports to 10-year lows. |
| Posted by:Fred |