Chinese economy in stable recovery
By Lu Ya’nan, People’s Daily
China has maintained stable economic recovery as a series of stimulus packages and follow-up measures took effect.
New impetus for economic development played a more important role as the industrial structure continuously optimized. Demand for consumption, investments, and exports all increased steadily. The economic recovery is gaining momentum.
According to the figures released by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Oct. 24, China’s GDP grew by 3 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year. In particular, the third-quarter growth stood at 3.9 percent, up 3.5 percentage points from that in the April-June period.
In general, the Chinese economy saw major economic indicators recover despite negative impacts from unexpected factors. The real economy maintained stable development; economic recovery stayed in positive territory; consumer prices grew mildly; employment remained stable.
In the first nine months of this year, the added value of the secondary industry accounted for 40.2 percent of the country’s GDP, up 1.1 percentage points from a year ago.
The consumer price index grew 2 percent year on year in the same period, 0.3 percentage points higher than the first-half growth and making a sharp contrast to the high inflation currently prevalent in many places around the world.
China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate in the first three quarters averaged 5.6 percent. That in the third quarter was 5.4 percent, 0.4 percentage points lower from the second quarter.
Both secondary and tertiary industries recovered in the third quarter as a series of stimulus packages and follow-up measures to bolster the economy took effect.
Industrial and supply chains of the secondary industry were stabilized.
In the third quarter, the value-added industrial output reported by enterprises above the designated size, or those with annual revenue from principal business of at least 20 million yuan ($2.75 million), increased 4.8 percent year on year, up 4.1 percentage points from the second quarter, with the growth accelerating month by month.
Twenty-three provincial-level regions reported faster growth, narrowed decrease, or a rebound in the growth of the value-added industrial output of enterprises above the designated size from the second quarter. The rebound rate reached 74.2 percent.
The capacity utilization in the automobile manufacturing industry, in particular, reached 75.7 percent in the third quarter, up 6.6 percentage points from the previous quarter, thanks to the rapid recovery of the sector’s industrial and supply chains.
The year-on-year growth rate of value-added output turned from a 7.6 percent decline in the second quarter to a significant increase of 25.4 percent. In the July-September period, the production of new energy vehicles surged 113.1 percent, 20.8 percentage points higher than that in the second quarter.
The service industry saw improved performance.
In the third quarter, China’s service production index expanded 1.2 percent year on year, up 4.5 percentage points from the second quarter. In particular, wholesales and retailing, transport, warehousing and postal services, as well as accommodation and catering sectors all leaped from negative to positive growth.
In September, the index for business activities in the productive service sector had been within the high expansion range for four consecutive months. The business activity indexes of postal services, telecommunication, radio and television and satellite transmission, as well as monetary and financial services were all above 60 percent.
The industrial structure continues to optimize as the production recovery.
In the third quarter, the value added of the high-tech manufacturing sector increased 6.7 percent year on year, 1.9 percentage points higher than the average of industries above the designated size nationally.
New energy and new material products maintained high-speed growth. The production of ultra-clear textured solar glass and polycrystalline silicon surged by 83.2 percent and 56.1 percent, respectively.
As frontier technologies are increasingly applied in the service sector, new consumption models are created, making new impetus for the development of the sector.
China’s economic recovery enjoys robust momentum. Rapid growth was observed in exports, which makes foreign trade resilient; residents’ demand for high-quality and green commodities rose gradually; construction of major projects was accelerated, expanding effective investment.
In the first three quarters, exports of goods and services, final consumption expenditure and gross capital formation contributed 32 percent, 41.3 percent and 26.7 percent to China’s total economic growth, driving the country’s GDP to grow 1 percentage point, 1.2 percentage points and 0.8 percentage points, respectively.
Despite the improvement in key economic indicators, China will make a big push to implement existing policy measures to consolidate the foundation for economic recovery, the NBS said.
