Overview: The seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-90) calls for reforms in the fiscal, financial, banking, price, and labor systems to support continued economic growth. Light and heavy industry is planned to grow by 7.5% a year, agriculture by 4%, and foreign trade by 7%--growth rates lower than those recorded during 1981-85. Despite the good economic results of the past 10 years, China remains one of the world's poorest countries with a per capita income of $320. Most of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, although only 11% of the land is cultivated. China is self-sufficient in grain and is the world's largest producer of rice, millet, barley and sorghum. Agricultural products also account for a large share of export earnings. The industrial sector's share of real GNP increased from 39% in 1984 to 43% in 1987, while agriculture's share dropped from 31% to 26%. China has vast and largely untapped energy and mineral resources. As part of the drive to modernize its economy, China has pursued a more liberal economic policy in the 1980s. Peasants are now allowed to lease land from the state and to retain earnings after meeting contractual obligations to deliver grain to the state. Joint ventures and foreign loans are now accepted, and commercial links have been diversified.

GNP: $350 billion, per capita $320; real growth rate 11% (1988)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 18.5% (1988)

Unemployment rate: 2.0% in urban areas (1987 est.)

Budget: revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Exports: $57.1 billion (f.o.b., 1988); @m5commodities--manufactured goods, agricultural products, oilseeds, grain (rice and corn), oil, minerals; @m5partners--Hong Kong, Japan, US, FRG, USSR, Singapore, Italy, Canada (1987)

Imports: $52.0 billion (f.o.b., 1988); @m5commodities--grain (mostly wheat), chemical fertilizer, steel, industrial raw materials, machinery, equipment; @m5partners--Hong Kong, Japan, US, FRG, USSR, Singapore, Italy, Canada (1987)

External debt: $35 billion (1988 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 14.8% (1987)

Electricity: 110,000,000 kW capacity; 526,000 million kWh produced, 480 kWh per capita (1988)

Industries: iron, steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles, petroleum

Agriculture: rice, wheat, corn, other grains, oilseed, cotton; mainly subsistence agriculture

Aid: NA

Currency: yuan (plural--yuan); 1 yuan (Y) = 10 jiao

Exchange rates: yuan (Y) per US$1--3.7221 (fixed rate since 1986), 3.4528 (1986), 2.9367 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding China on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of China Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about China Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.