In 2003, the GDP of China was 11,669.4 billion yuan, up by 9.1 percent, or a growth rate of 1.1 percentage points higher, over the previous year at comparable prices. The added value of the primary industry was 1,724.7 billion yuan, up 2.5 percent; but the growth was 0.4 percentage points lower. The added value of the secondary industry was 6,177.8 billion yuan, up 12.5 percent; the growth was 2.7 percentage points higher. The added value of the tertiary industry was 3,766.9 billion yuan, up 6.7 percent; the growth was 0.8 percentage points lower. Of the tertiary industry, the growth of the banking and insurance sectors was 6.9 percent, that of the wholesale, retail and catering sectors was 6.6 percent, and that of the real estate sector was 5.3 percent.

The general level of consumer prices was up 1.2 percent over the previous year. Of this total, the consumer price level in urban areas was up 0.9 percent, and in rural areas, 1.6 percent. Of the total consumer prices, the prices for food increased 3.4 percent and for service items, up 2.2 percent. The retail prices of commodities were down 0.1 percent, while the producers' prices for manufactured goods increased 2.3 percent. The purchasing prices for raw materials, fuels and power went up by 4.8 percent. The prices for investment in fixed assets were up 2.2 percent. Producers' prices of farm products were up 4.4 percent. Specifically, the price for cereals was up 2.3 percent; for cotton, 35.3 percent; for oil-bearing crops, 19.4 percent; and for livestock products, 1.8 percent.

At the end of 2003, there were 744.32 million employed people in China, 6.92 million more than at the end of 2002. Of this total, 256.39 million were employed in urban areas, 8.59 million more than at the end of 2002. In the year, 4.4 million once laid-off workers of state-owned enterprises were reemployed. The urban unemployment rate through unemployment registration was 4.3 percent at the end of the year, up by 0.3 percentage points.

The trade surplus was $25.5 billion in 2003, a decrease of $4.9 billion. The utilization of foreign capital continued to increase. Foreign exchange reserves went up by a large margin. At the end of 2003, China's foreign exchange reserves reached $403.3 billion, an increase of $116.8 billion as compared with that at the end of the pervious year. The exchange rate of the RMB remained stable, with one U.S. dollar equal to 8.2726 yuan at the end of the year.

Main problems that existed in the economic and social development included: slow growth of farmers' income; heavy pressure for employment and social security; tight relation between the supply and demand of energy and transportation; large size of investment in fixed assets, blind investment and repeated low-quality expansion in some industries; big income gap between selected groups of population; relatively difficult life of low-incomers; increasing pressure on resources and environment, etc.