Market prices remained stable. The general level of consumer prices was up 0.7 percent over the previous year. Of this, the price level in urban areas rose 0.7 percent and that in rural areas 0.8 percent. The level of food prices equaled that of the previous year, of which grain prices were down 0.7 percent, and the prices of meat, poultry and products were up 1.6 percent, vegetables up 1.4 percent, and eggs up 6 percent. Of other prices, cigarettes and alcoholic drinks were down 0.3 percent, clothing fell 1.9 percent, household appliances declined 2.3 percent, and transport and communications services decreased 1 percent. The prices of entertainment service, education and cultural items rose 6.6 percent while housing costs went up 1.2 percent. Producer prices of manufactured goods were down 1.3 percent, and purchasing prices of raw materials, energy and power down 0.2 percent. The costs of investment in fixed assets increased 0.4 percent.

The scale of employment expanded continuously. At the end of 2001, the number of employed people in China totaled 730.25 million, 9.4 million more than at the end of 2000. Of this total, 239.4 million were employed in urban areas, an increase of 7.89 million. Laid-off workers of State-owned enterprises numbered 5.15 million, a decrease of 1.42 million compared with that at the end of the previous year. A total of 2.27 million laid-off workers found new jobs through various channels. The year-end urban registered unemployment rate was 3.6 percent.

China's balance of payments was favorable. The favorable balance of trade in 2001 stood at US$22.5 billion, a decrease of US$1.6 billion from 2000. Foreign direct investment actually used in the year was US$46.8 billion, up 14.9 percent over 2000. Foreign exchange reserves reached US$212.2 billion at the end of 2001, an increase of US$46.6 billion over at the end of the previous year. The RMB exchange rate remained stable, with the year-end exchange rate standing at US$1=RMB8.2766, an appreciation of 15 basic points.

New progress was made in adjustment of economic structure, with the overall quality and efficiency of economic performance improving constantly. Geared toward the market demand, the agricultural sector vigorously accelerated optimization of variety, quality and distribution of agricultural products. Main crops tended to be concentrated in superior production areas. High-tech industries maintained rapid growth and traditional industries accelerated technical upgrading. Some sectors made new headway in eliminating outdated and cutting down excessive production capacities. Investment in the western region increased to some extent. In 2001, the overall economic efficiency index for all State-owned industrial enterprises and non-State-owned industrial enterprises with an annual sales revenue of over 5 million yuan was 122.1 percent, up 3.4 percentage points over 2000, and profits yielded reached 465.7 billion yuan, up 8.1 percent.

Major problems that remained in national economic and social development are as follows: Contradictions resulting from the irrational economic structure and deep-seated problems with the economic system are still prominent. Pressure on employment has increased, the income of farmers increased slowly, and there are difficulties in the living conditions of some people. Enterprises are still weak in technological innovation and adaptability to market, and some suffer great difficulties in production and management. The problems, such as frequent occurrence of serious accidents and segmented domestic market resulting from local protectionism, are yet to be solved fundamentally. And market economic order needs further improvement.