PRC’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) unveiled today the Chinese economy figures for the 1stQ 2018, showing above-target growth for the start of the year.
Country’s GDP expanded 6.8 percent year on year at comparable prices in the first three months of 2018, unchanged from the growth rate in the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on April 17.
Welcome news, says tehe official communication published by PRC’s Government as aggressive protectionist moves by the US administration added uncertainty to the world economy.
“The economy is off to a good start,” NBS spokesperson Xing Zhihong told a news conference, noting that the quarterly performance laid a good foundation for sustained, healthy growth for the whole year. The GDP growth rate has stayed within the range of 6.7 percent to 6.9 percent for 11 consecutive quarters, with the jobless rate and inflation remaining stable, he said.
In the first quarter, China’s industrial output and fixed-asset investment growth eased from the January-February period, but retail sales, private investment and property investment growth accelerated, the NBS data showed.
Xing attributed the moderation of some indicators to seasonal factor, such as the fact that the Spring Festival came later this year than previous years affecting production increase.
China, perfectly able to handle trade tensions
“The biggest [difficulty facing China’s economy] is uncertainty in the international environment,” NBS spokes person underscored.
Xing said China is “fully capable” of handling trade tensions with the United States, citing the country’s increasingly domestic-led growth, growing innovative edge, and ample room for development and policy control.
“The economy has plenty of resilience, potential and leeway. The Sino-US trade frictions cannot stump the Chinese economy, nor can they change its sound momentum of sustained and healthy growth,” he told reporters.
“The economy has plenty of resilience, potential and leeway. The Sino-US trade frictions cannot stump the Chinese economy, nor can they change its sound momentum of sustained and healthy growth,” he told reporters.
China is currently increasing demand for high-end products, domestic sales can partially offset the adverse impact of external factors, said Wang Changlin, an economist at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Domestic demand contributed 105.7 percent of China’s economic growth on average annually from 2008 to 2017, according to Xing.
Narrowing trade surplus is not a problem, according to Xing, as China is opening up further.
“China does not seek trade surplus and is continuously expanding imports,” said Bai Ming, researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. “This will bring new opportunities for other countries to share the market dividends of China.”
Earlier this month unveiled a number of landmark measures to be taken this year to significantly broaden market access, from significantly lowering import tariffs for vehicles to opening up the financial sector.
Growth more based on domestic consumption than in investment and trade surplus
Retail sales growth accelerated to a higher-than-expected 10.1% in March from 9.7 in January-February, NBS data showed.
“This is a good sign that growth is rebalancing from investment to consumption,” Nomura said. “Indeed, underneath the very stable GDP growth over the past five quarters has been a continued rapid rebalancing, from old economy industrial sectors and investment toward new economy sectors like tech and services, as well as consumption.”
This transition is part of China’s bid to steer its economy toward high-quality development rather than growth based on inefficient investment, low-end exports and polluting factories.
Services accounted for 56.6 percent of the economy and 61.6 percent of its growth in the first quarter, the NBS data showed.
Final consumption contributed to 77.8 percent of the economic growth, up from 58.8 percent last year.
New businesses and industries continued to grow fast, and the industrial sector steadily upgraded toward medium and high-end production, according to Xing.
Zhang Zhanbin, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Governance said China will fulfill its goal of achieving GDP growth of around 6.5% this year.
Image over the headline.- Shangxiajiu, zona peatonal en Guangzhou, RPC. Fotografía de David Chen. Para ver la imagen original clic aquí
