From New York Times:
The powerful earthquake that devastated southwestern China three weeks ago seems to have had only a limited effect on China’s overall economy.
Only 1 percent of China’s population lives in the hardest hit quake-affected area, in northern Sichuan Province. Those residents account for an even smaller share of China’s economic output, because many of them are impoverished farmers.
Inflation was already a serious problem in China, running at nearly 9 percent a year, and government spending to rebuild the quake-affected region is driving up prices for some goods, like tents for the homeless. But to limit the broader effect on inflation, the Chinese government has already planned to offset spending on quake relief by slowing the growth rate in government spending elsewhere.
