National Bureau Of Statistics: Focus On China'S Economic Trend In August

According to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on September 14, in the face of the increasingly complex and severe domestic and international environment, as well as the impact of high temperature weather, rainstorm and flood and other natural disasters on economic activities, in August, China's production demand continued to recover, employment prices were basically stable, economic operation was generally stable, and high-quality development was solidly promoted.

The overall economic operation is stable

At the press conference held by the Office of the National People's Congress on the same day, Liu Aihua, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that from the four aspects of economic growth, employment, prices and balance of payments, the national economy in August was generally stable and continued to develop steadily.

Production was generally stable and domestic demand continued to expand. In August, the added value of industries above designated size increased by 4.5% year on year. Among them, the added value of equipment manufacturing industry above designated size increased by 6.4% year on year, contributing 47.9% to the added value growth of all industries above designated size, and continued to play the role of "ballast". Total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 2.1% year on year, of which catering revenue increased by 3.3%, 0.3 percentage points faster than last month.

Employment was generally stable, and consumer prices rose slightly. Affected by the graduation season, the unemployment rate in the national urban survey was 5.3% in August, a slight increase of 0.1 percentage points over the previous month. Affected by the hot and rainy weather and other factors, the national consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.4% month on month in August, 0.6% year on year, continuing to maintain a moderate upward trend.

Foreign trade grew well, and foreign exchange reserves continued to increase. Against the background of the slowdown of the world economic recovery and the continued weakening of the global manufacturing landscape, China's total imports and exports of goods in August increased by 4.8% year on year, and the monthly scale hit a record high in the same period. At the end of August, the balance of foreign exchange reserves increased by 31.8 billion US dollars over the end of last month, and has remained above 3.2 trillion US dollars since this year.

"In August, the overall economic operation was stable, and high-quality development was still progressing steadily. However, we should also see that the international environment is becoming more complex and severe, unstable, uncertain and unpredictable factors are increasing, and problems such as insufficient domestic demand are still emerging. There is pain in the transformation of new and old drivers, and some industries are still facing difficulties in business operations," said Liu Aihua, We should accelerate the implementation of various reform tasks and policy measures, and consolidate the foundation for a sustained economic recovery.

Steady progress in transformation and upgrading

Affected by factors such as high temperature weather, rainstorm and flood disasters and insufficient market demand in some industries, the year-on-year growth rate of industrial added value above designated size has slowed down in recent years, but the industrial transformation and upgrading are still continuing.

In August, the added value of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increased by 8.6% year on year, of which the electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry increased by 11.4%, maintaining double-digit growth for 10 consecutive months; The added value of the manufacturing industries of intelligent unmanned aerial vehicles, navigation, surveying and mapping, meteorology and special marine instruments increased by 54% and 65.1% respectively year on year, and new driving forces for the development of the manufacturing industry continued to grow.

There are also many highlights in the consumption field. From January to August, the retail sales of services grew 6.9% year on year, 3.9 percentage points faster than the retail sales of goods in the same period, and all categories of service retail achieved positive growth. Summer travel is active. In July and August, 887 million passengers were sent by the national railway, a new record in the number of passengers sent during summer travel, highlighting the huge potential of service consumption in China. From digital consumption, green consumption, health consumption, to live video with goods, short video with goods, and instant retail, the consumer market is vibrant. From January to August, the online retail sales of physical goods increased by 8.1% year on year, 4.7 percentage points faster than the growth of total social retail sales.

With the continuous expansion of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade in policy, the policy effect continues to release. In August, the added value of shipbuilding and related device manufacturing industry, urban rail transit equipment manufacturing industry, textile clothing and leather processing equipment manufacturing industry, and communication equipment manufacturing industry all showed double-digit growth; The added value of the consumer goods manufacturing industry increased by 4.2% year on year, and 10 of the 13 consumer goods industries achieved year-on-year growth. From January to August, the investment in equipment and tools purchase contributed 64.2% to the growth of investment, significantly pulling the growth of investment.

Economic operation is expected to continue to develop steadily

How to view China's economic trend in the next stage? Liu Aihua said that in the past eight months, despite the complex and volatile domestic and international situation, the "stable" trend of China's economic operation has not changed under the influence of macro policies, new drivers of growth, sustained growth of foreign demand and other factors. In the next stage, these positive factors supporting the steady and healthy development of the economy will continue.

New driving forces are growing rapidly. From January to August, investment in high-tech industries grew by 10.2%, maintaining a double-digit growth for six consecutive months; The added value of high-technology manufacturing above designated size increased by 8.9% year on year, the output of new energy vehicles increased by 31.3%, and the output of service robots increased by 25.4%... The development potential of emerging fields continued to release, and the leading role of innovation continued to increase.

Domestic demand is expected to continue to grow. From January to August, the total retail sales of consumer goods and the investment in fixed assets were 31.2 trillion yuan and 32.9 trillion yuan respectively, and the potential of the super large market continued to emerge. The investment scale will continue to expand as the funds related to large-scale equipment renewal are gradually implemented into specific projects, and the disturbance of high temperature weather on project construction weakens. As the Mid Autumn National Day holiday approaches, the consumption demand of residents such as travel is expected to be further stimulated. In addition, the policy of trade in consumer goods is effective, and consumption is expected to continue to expand and improve quality.

Macro policies will continue to exert efforts. Since this year, all regions and departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, effectively implemented various macro policies, and provided strong support for promoting stable economic development. The meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee made a systematic deployment for the next economic work, and all regions and departments are now stepping up efforts to promote and implement it.

"Although the external environment is complex and severe, and there are still some problems such as insufficient effective domestic demand, China's economy is running steadily on the whole, and the factors supporting high-quality development are accumulating and increasing, which provides strong support for us to deal with various risks and challenges, and the economic operation is expected to continue the development trend of steady progress," Liu Aihua said.

(Source: Xinhuanet)