中國一季度GDP增速放緩至6.7% 爲七年最低

Last Friday's figures confirm the slowing trend in the world's second largest economy.

上週五公佈的數據，證實了中國這一世界第二大經濟體經的濟增速確實正在放緩。

It is the slowest quarterly growth in the Chinese economy in seven years, but in line with expectations and China's own growth targets. In the final quarter of last year, the economy expanded by 6.8%.

今年，中國第一季度的經濟增速下降到了7年以來的最低水平，但是卻符合預期及中國自己的增長目標。去年最後一季度，中國經濟增速是6.8%。

But there are pockets of growth. Investment in industrial assets and infrastructure registered a surprise jump by 10.7% in the three months to March, when compared to the same period last year.

但中國同樣也有增長的金額。截止3月份的今年前三個月，中國對工業資產和基礎設施建設的投資有了較大的增加，同比去年增長10.7%。

Consumers also appear to be spending, with retail sales showing a robust 10.5% jump for March. That fits Beijing's attempts in recent years to transform China from an export-led economy to a consumer-led one.

中國人也更願意消費了。三月份，中國零售業銷售額暴漲了10.5%。中國政府近年來一直致力於實現經濟從出口導向型到消費導向型的轉變，而現在中國消費的強有力增長和這一努力是分不開的。

To tell the truth China correspondents struggle with this country's economic statistics because we don't know how accurate they are and GDP figures are no exception.

說實話，中國的記者一直在和國內的經濟統計做鬥爭，因爲他們不能準確地知道經濟運行的狀況和GDP的數據。

Some provinces and companies are said to exaggerate their production figures to push themselves to the top of the pile but there are also those who are thought to under-estimate their performance so they can attract greater central government support.

據說某些省份和公司會誇大它們的產值，以使得自己能夠在排名上更加靠前。但還有一些省份和公司會瞞報它們的收益，以便於向中央政府要求更多的扶持。

For this reason there are economists who measure this country's financial health using electricity consumption figures instead. By this measure the world's second largest economy would still be growing but perhaps at not at such a rapid clip.

鑑於此，一些經濟學家通過使用電力消費數據來衡量中國經濟的運行狀況。通過這一方法，我們可以知道中國的經濟仍然在增長，但是也許增長的速度沒有以前那麼迅速了。

Asia's economic giant is attempting to make up for a loss in traditional production and exports by shifting to a model much more dominated by services and domestic consumption. It is in the process of sacking millions of workers and looking for somewhere else to place them.

中國正在進行經濟轉型，將減少傳統產業，並轉變以出口爲導向的舊經濟模式，轉而大力發展服務業，建立一個以國內消費爲導向的新經濟模式。這一經濟轉型過程將會使數百萬工人失業，而且政府必須妥善安置這些失業的工人。

This might be the correct thing to do in the long run - the government would argue that it is working to eventually deliver more sustainable growth - but, in the short term, what it means is more pain to come.

從長期來看這個決定是正確的，中國政府認爲轉型後的經濟模式將最終帶來更多的可持續性增長。但是從短期來看，經濟轉型將帶來更多的陣痛。