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02-03-22, 12:33
China on verge of high-income status after wealth measure jumps 20%
COVID recovery and strong yuan drive GNI gains, but inequality still a challenge
IORI KAWATE, Nikkei staff writer
March 1, 2022
BEIJING -- China's per capita gross national income grew by a fifth in 2021, according to government data released Monday, coming within striking distance of the World Bank's threshold for a high-income country.
Chinese GNI rose 20% in nominal terms to $12,438 per capita. The World Bank regards $12,695 as the minimum line for a high-income country.
The jump owed to a speedy economic rebound from the disruption caused by the coronavirus, as well as a strong yuan that boosted the dollar figure.
GNI measures the total income earned by a country's people and businesses, both domestically and abroad. That includes gross domestic product -- the value of all goods and services produced within the country -- as well as income from foreign investments and other overseas sources.
China's nominal GNI rose 12.4% in yuan terms, the fastest growth since 2011, regaining steam after the pandemic brought the economy to a virtual halt in early 2020.
The dollar figure was further boosted by the yuan's performance. The Chinese currency averaged 6.45 yuan to the dollar last year, 7% stronger than in 2020, on a record trade surplus and increasing foreign investment in Chinese debt. Nominal GDP climbed 21% to $17.72 trillion -- equivalent to 77% of U.S. GDP, compared with 70% in 2020.
Despite these gains, inequality remains an challenge for Beijing. The top 20% of households on average had 10.3 times as much disposable income as the bottom 20% last year. While the gap between urban and rural households narrowed, ballooning housing prices worsened inequality within urban populations.
The share of wealth held by the top 1% of households jumped 9.7 percentage points from 2000 to 30.6% in 2020, according to Credit Suisse -- a steeper increase than in the U.S., India, Russia and Brazil.
President Xi Jinping's government looks to address inequality with its push for "common prosperity," an effort Beijing is trying to balance with promoting stable growth as the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress approaches this fall.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-on-verge-of-high-income-status-after-wealth-measure-jumps-20
COVID recovery and strong yuan drive GNI gains, but inequality still a challenge
IORI KAWATE, Nikkei staff writer
March 1, 2022
BEIJING -- China's per capita gross national income grew by a fifth in 2021, according to government data released Monday, coming within striking distance of the World Bank's threshold for a high-income country.
Chinese GNI rose 20% in nominal terms to $12,438 per capita. The World Bank regards $12,695 as the minimum line for a high-income country.
The jump owed to a speedy economic rebound from the disruption caused by the coronavirus, as well as a strong yuan that boosted the dollar figure.
GNI measures the total income earned by a country's people and businesses, both domestically and abroad. That includes gross domestic product -- the value of all goods and services produced within the country -- as well as income from foreign investments and other overseas sources.
China's nominal GNI rose 12.4% in yuan terms, the fastest growth since 2011, regaining steam after the pandemic brought the economy to a virtual halt in early 2020.
The dollar figure was further boosted by the yuan's performance. The Chinese currency averaged 6.45 yuan to the dollar last year, 7% stronger than in 2020, on a record trade surplus and increasing foreign investment in Chinese debt. Nominal GDP climbed 21% to $17.72 trillion -- equivalent to 77% of U.S. GDP, compared with 70% in 2020.
Despite these gains, inequality remains an challenge for Beijing. The top 20% of households on average had 10.3 times as much disposable income as the bottom 20% last year. While the gap between urban and rural households narrowed, ballooning housing prices worsened inequality within urban populations.
The share of wealth held by the top 1% of households jumped 9.7 percentage points from 2000 to 30.6% in 2020, according to Credit Suisse -- a steeper increase than in the U.S., India, Russia and Brazil.
President Xi Jinping's government looks to address inequality with its push for "common prosperity," an effort Beijing is trying to balance with promoting stable growth as the twice-a-decade Communist Party congress approaches this fall.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/China-on-verge-of-high-income-status-after-wealth-measure-jumps-20