Beijing's social development ranked top among the key cities around China in 2001, according to a report from the capital city's municipal statistics bureau.
Bureau director Liu Jigang said that Beijing's social development comprehensive index, a focal indicator for economic progress, recorded 154.83 points last year, up 9 per cent by the previous year and 76 per cent higher than the country's average level.
Experts attribute it to the growth of fixed assets investment and consumption, industrial structure optimization and slight export increases despite the world economic slowdown.
Local fixed assets investment reached 122.72 billion yuan (US$14.79 billion) in 2001, 25.3 per cent more than that in 2000.
The growth rate of non-State and real estate sectors skyrocketed to 46.3 per cent and 50.1 per cent respectively.
Last year, consumption volume totalled 159.35 billion yuan (US$19.2 billion), 10.4 per cent higher than in 2000.
Furthermore, the hot spots for consumption were personal residences, travelling, telecommunication equipment, personal computers and automobiles.
"Winning the bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, hosting the 2001 Universiad and China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) enhanced investors' and consumers' confidence, which further stimulated domestic demand,"Liu said.
Thanks to the rapid development of the high-tech industry and the prosperity of the services sector, Beijing's industrial structure improved last year.
In 2001, the industrial value of the municipality's high-tech industry amounted to 26.36 billion yuan (US$3.18 billion), up 17.6 per cent over the previous year. The high-tech industry accounted for 31.2 per cent of the city's industrial sector as a whole.
Transportation logistics, chain retailing and franchising businesses have become increasingly prosperous in Beijing's services industry, whose value totalled 166.09 billion yuan (US$20.01 billion) last year, a 10.2 increase from 2000 and sharing 58.9 per cent of the city's gross domestic product (GDP).
Chen Jian, a researcher with the policy study office under the
Beijing Municipal Government, said that concentrating on the high-tech and services industries may be a sound and sustainable development strategy for Beijing, given the city's status as an international metropolis and China's capital.
In spite of the global slowdown, the export volume from local enterprises totalled US$4.87 billion in 2001, up 5.3 per cent over 2000. Electronics and machinery exports represented 59.8 per cent of the city's total export volume.
"It is due to exploring new exporting fields and multiplying foreign trade structure strategies,"said Chen.
