China's GDP in 2007 has increased 14 fold compared to the beginning of reform and opening-up back in 1978. Reporters learned this from the "30 years of reform and opening-up" international academic seminar held by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on Tuesday.
Liu Shucheng, a member of the Academic Divisions of CASS and deputy director of the Academic Division of Economics at CASS, said in the past 30 years since reform and opening-up, the most remarkable achievement of China is its rapid economic growth.
In 1978, when reform and opening-up just began, China's GDP was only 362.4 billion yuan. And after eight years worth of effort, it rose to one trillion yuan in 1986. In these eight years, the yearly increase in GDP did not exceed 100 billion yuan on average.
After another five years of hard work, China's GDP rose to two trillion yuan in 1991. In these five years, the yearly increase in GDP was over 200 billion yuan on average.
In the years that followed, the average increase in GDP was more than one trillion yuan annually, with GDP rising to 24.9 trillion yuan in 2007.
Adjusting for inflation, China's GDP in 2007 was 5.4331 trillion yuan in real terms, an increase of 14 fold over 1978, marking an average annual growth rate of 9.8% for the 29-year period.
According to data from the International Monetary Fund, China's GDP, which ranked 10th in the world in 1990 (preceded by the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, Spain and Brazil), rose to 6th in 2000, then to 5th in 2005, 4th in 2006, and is expected to rise to 3rd in 2008, becoming the world's third-largest economic power.
The expert panel of the World Bank once stated that in just one generation, China has achieved what other countries took centuries to accomplish, according to Liu.
In a country with a population exceeding the combined populations of Africa and Latin America, this achievement is the most impressive development of our time.
By People's Daily Online
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