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5
Another economic policy which has been widely
discussed recently is inter-regional economic
7.
(4).
co-operation. According to incomplete statistics, 20
horizontal economic zones had been formed by the end of
May this year
The need for better horizontal
co-ordination is to some extent related to the partial
de-centralization and delegation of power to local
authorities since 1979.
8.
Turning to the external sector, despite the
attempts by the Chinese government to promote exports and
to restrict imports, the visible trade deficit showed only
a small improvement in the first half of the year according to the customs figures. While exports increased
by 14% over the same period last year to reach US$13.5
billion, imports rose by 9% to US$19.9 billion. In consequence, there was a visible trade deficit of US$6.4
billion, which was only slightly smaller than the deficit
of US$6.5 billion recorded in the first half of 1985.
usual, the figures released by the Ministry of Foreign
Economic Relations and Trade (which are considered less
reliable for macroeconomic analysis) indicate a much
smaller visible trade deficit. According to this source,
(4)
Inter-regional economic co-operation can be classified into three main types:
(i)
economic cooperation among provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities;
(ii)
economic cooperation among neighbouring counties and prefectures; and
(iii) economic cooperation among major cities.
Related to this development, a limited inter-bank money market was recently established between five major cities Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing, Changzhou and Shenyang.
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