Chinese economy full of resilience
By Lu Yanan from People’s
Daily
Despite complex
domestic and international environment, China has managed to run its economy
with a good start since this year, keeping major indicators within a reasonable
scope and displaying strong economic resilience.
A total of 195
million domestic tourist trips were made during the four-day May Day holiday,
and each day there were 9,266 trains and 16,000 flights departing.
Total transactions
through the China UnionPay network hit 1.29 trillion yuan ($192 billion) during
the holiday, or 322.5 billion yuan per day.
These figures are an
epitome of the strong endogenous power of the Chinese economy.
In the first three
months, China’s economy rose by 6.4 percent year-on-year to 21.3 trillion yuan,
higher than the annual GDP of 2005. The growth rate in Q1 remained flat with
that in the previous quarter.
“China’s GDP growth
has stayed between 6.4 and 6.8 percent for 14 quarters in a row, which is a
continuation of the steady growth momentum,” said Zhao Tonglu, Director-General
of the Department of National Accounts with the National Bureau of Statistics
of China (NBS).
In the first quarter,
3.24 million new urban jobs were added, fulfilling 29.5 percent of the country’s
annual target to improve employment. About 1.17 million urban laid-off workers
were reemployed and 390,000 people who had difficulty finding jobs were
employed. The surveyed unemployment rate in March stood at 5.2 percent, down by
0.1 percentage point from February.
The first three
months of this year witnessed a moderate rise of 1.8 percent in consumer
prices, 0.3 percentage point lower from a year before.
China’s international
balance of payments was within a range of equilibrium. In the first quarter,
the country’s foreign trade rose 3.7 percent year-on-year. By the end of March,
the US dollar-yuan exchange rate was 6.73, representing an appreciation of 1.9
percent from the end of last year.
At the same time,
China’s foreign exchange reserves rose to $3.0988 trillion. The amount
increased by $8.6 billion from February, marking a consecutive growth for 5
months.
China’s resident
income grew faster than its economy did. In the first quarter, the per capita
disposable income of urban and rural residents increased by 6.8 percent, 0.4
percentage points higher than GDP growth, and much faster than the per capita
GDP growth.
The resilience of the
Chinese economy comes from its good fundamentals. With strong material basis,
vast human resources and huge development potential, China, which is in the
synchronous development of new industrialization, informatization, urbanization
and agricultural modernization, has a large market to maneuver.
China is still in an
important period of strategic opportunity for development and the economic
fundamentals sustaining sound development remain unchanged. Particularly, the
outcomes of the deepening of the supply-side structural reform in recent years
have guided the country’s economy into a virtuous circle of price recovery,
cost reduction, profit increase and confidence boost.
The resilience of the
Chinese economy also comes from the shift of driving forces. In the first
quarter, investment in high-tech manufacturing and service sectors increased by
11.4 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively.
In the same period,
enterprises in the country invested 16.9 percent more into technology upgrades,
which was 10.6 percentage points higher than the general investment.
The added value of
strategic emerging industries grew by 6.7 percent, 0.2 percentage point higher
than that of the industrial enterprises above designated size. New products and
technologies such as base stations for mobile communication, urban rail
vehicles and new energy cars were also a highlight.
The resilience of the
Chinese economy comes from the increasing coordination of development. China’s
growth which used to highly depend on export, now relies on domestic demand.
In the first quarter,
final consumption contributed 65.1 percent to GDP growth, higher than that made
by gross capital formation and net exports of goods and services. It signifies
that domestic consumption is still the major driver of economic growth.
The consumption
market is expected to maintain a stable growth and consumption demand will be
further released when residents’ income increases steadily and the policies to
cut taxes and reduce fees and boost consumption gradually take effect, said Lin
Tao, director-general of the Department of Trade and External Economic
Relations Statistics, NBS.
The resilience also
comes from the expanding of growth sustainability. By forging ahead with
deepening reforms to streamline administration, delegate powers, and improve
regulation and services and building a business environment that features the
rule of law, internationalization, and convenience, China is still one of the
most welcomed destinations for investment in the world.
In the first three
months, the average number of newly registered market entities per day was
53,000, up by 26.3 year on year. The actual use of foreign investment rose by
6.5 percent from a year ago. Foreign investment attracted in high-end
manufacturing and high-tech service sectors grew by 14.8 percent and 88 percent
year-on-year respectively, indicating an increase in both the quality and
quantity of foreign investment.
Against the backdrop
of a slowing flow of transnational capital, China is still able to attract a
growing amount of foreign investment, which indicates the global confidence in
China’s growth and the recognition of the country’s investment environment from
global capital, said Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen.
“China has the confidence and ability to maintain stable and healthy
economic development and achieve its preset goal,” said Yuan Da, director of
policy research office of the National Development and Reform Commission
(NDRC).
Such economic
resilience has enabled China to achieve high-quality economic development and
cope with external challenges, Yuan added.
Tourists pose for
pictures with azalea flowers in the grasslands in Zhalantun, Hulunbeier city,
north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, during the May Day holiday. The
flowers, which are in full bloom, attracted more than 330,000 tourists during
the 4-day holiday. In recent years, guided by the idea of “lucid waters and
lush mountains are invaluable assets.” and the concept of building a green and
prosperous city, Zhalantun has taken strong measures to protect environment,
turning barren mountains into green forests and flowers. Photo: People’s Daily
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Chinese economy full of resilience
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