Affected by SARS, the growth of China's GDP in the second quarter of this year dropped to 6.7percent from 9.9 percent in the first quarter. This is the lowest growth rate in the same period since 1992, said Yao Jingyuan, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, on July 17. However, in terms of comparable prices, the GDP rose by 8.2 percent in the first six months to 5,005.3 billion yuan, thanks to rapid economic growth in the first quarter, the soaring of industrial production, market sales and other major economic indexes in June, and the continuous increase in fixed asset investment and import and export trade in the first six months. The growth of GDP between January and June was 0.4 percentage point more than that in the same period of last year. It represented a fairly fast increase when compared with the rate during the same period in recent years.

The tertiary industry, which was badly flit by SARS, increased only by 0.8 percent in the first six months, with the growth rate declining by 6.1 percentage points from last Year's same period. Passenger transport, catering, social service and tourism sectors entailed the greatest losses. In the second quarter, the passenger transport volume dropped by 23.9 percent, with air transport declining by nearly 50percent.According to investigations of 13 major social service trades in 29 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, in the first six months their turnover dropped by 14.8 percent from the same period of last year. The growth of sales on the domestic market declined considerably. In the second quarter, the volume of retail sales increased by 6.7 percent over the same period of last year, which was much lower than the growth rate of 9.2 percent in the previous quarter. The catering sector saw a decline of 3.5 percent in retail sales. Owing to the sluggish sales of animal by-products, fruit and vegetables in some localities, the growth of the added value of agriculture decreased from 3.5 percent in the first quarter to 2.3 percent in the second quarter. As large numbers of migrant workers returned to their rural homes, the per-capita cash income of farmers dropped by 35 yuan in the second quarter.

In the first six months, while agriculture grew steadily, industry maintained rapid development. As the cultivation structure of agriculture was further optimized, the area of land planted to summer grain and sugar-bearing crops decreased and that planted to cotton and vegetables expanded. According to a preliminary survey, summer grain output totaled 96.22 million tons, down 2.4 million tons or 2.4 percent from the same period of last year. The output of rape rose by 8.1 percent to 11.41million tons. In the first six months, the contribution rate of industry to economic growth was as high as 70.2 percent, up 10.l percentage points over the same period of last year. Industry boosted the GDP by 5.8 percentage points. Industrial enterprises above the designated size reaped 1,836.3 billion yuan in added value, up 16.2 percent over the same period of last year. The growth rate, which was 4.5 percentage points higher than that of last year, was the highest in the same period since 1994.The first six months saw all-round rapid development of all industrial sectors, with the increase of heavy industry notably exceeding that of light industry.

In the first six months, while investment, exports and foreign capital utilization increased rapidly, the growth of consumption slowed down. Total investment in fixed assets reached 1,934.8 billion yuan, up 31.l percent over the same period of last year. The growth rate, which was 9.6 percentage points higher than that of the same period of last year, was the highest since 1994. Import and export volume totaled US$376.1 billion, with the growth rate of 39 percent exceeding that of last Year's same period by26.7percentage points. Exports reached US$190.3 billion, with the growth rate of 34percent exceeding that of last Year's same period by 19.9 percentage points. Imports totaled US$185.8 billion, with the growth rate of 44.5percent surpassing that of last Year's same period by 34.1 percentage points. The volume of exports exceeded that of imports by US$4.5 billion, down US$8.9 billion from last Year's same period.

Exports to China's major trading partners increased rapidly, with the growth of exports to the United States, Canada, Australia, ASEAN,EU and Russia exceeding 30 percent and even surpassing 40 percent. Contractual foreign direct investment totaled US$51billion in the first six months, up 40.3 percent over the same period of last year, while paid-in overseas investment reached US$30.3 billion, up 34.3 percent, with the growth rate of both exceeding that in the same period of last year. The volume of total retail sales hit 2,155.6 billion yuan, with the growth rate of 8 percent showing a 0.6-percentage point decrease from that in the same period of last year.

While the national economy maintained rapid growth, the quality of its performance further improved. The profits of enterprises stood at a high level. In the first five months, industrial enterprises netted 291.8 billion yuan in aggregate profits, with the growth rate of 62.8 percent representing an increase of 60percentage points over that in the same period of last year.

The income of urban and rural residents increased continuously. In the first six months, the per-capita disposable income of urban residents averaged 4,301 yuan, up 8.4percent when allowing for price rises, while the per-capita cash income of rural residents was 1,158 yuan, a real increase of 2.5 percent.