The President of China – Hu Jintao, announced Sunday that the economy grew faster than expected – 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2006 compared with one year earlier, but said the government was concerned about overly rapid growth. Chinese leaders have warned repeatedly that rapid growth could spark inflation or leave the country littered with unneeded factories and luxury apartments, causing problems for banks that financed them. “We do not seek high-speed economic growth,” Hu Jintao said during a meeting with a former Taiwan opposition leader in Beijing.
The Premier Wen Jiabao and other members of the State Council, or Cabinet, on Friday called for the policy changes after examining data on money supply and investment in buildings, factories and other fixed assets.
China plans to reduce its GDP from an annual average of 9.5 percent in the past 25 years to 7.5 percent in the next five years from 2006 to 2010 by improving economic quality and making domestic consumption the major driving force for economic growth.
Hu Jintao announced first quarter growth figures during a meeting with former head of Taiwan’s Nationalist...