(Economic Observer) China’s third quarter economic report presents five major highlights

China News Service, Beijing, October 19th: Title: China’s third quarterly economic report presents five major highlights

China News Service reporter Wang Mengyao

According to the economic data for the first three quarters released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on the 19th, China's economy continues to demonstrate its resilience and vitality. The "Three Quarterly Report" presents five major highlights.

First, quarterly GDP growth picked up.

In the first three quarters, China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4.6% year-on-year, of which the growth rate in the third quarter was 4.5%, which was 0.2 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the second quarter. In terms of increment, the economic increment in the first three quarters reached 5.7 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below), which is the largest increment in the past five years.

Mao Shengyong, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that from the third quarter, the impact of the increase in international crude oil prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East on global economic growth was greater than that in the second quarter. Therefore, some international institutions' forecasts for the economic growth of major economies in the third quarter are generally lower than those in the second quarter. However, China's economic growth rate in the third quarter rebounded by 0.2 percentage points from the second quarter, which is "hard-won and valuable."

Second, new driving forces are growing rapidly.

New driving forces represented by high-end manufacturing, digital economy, and modern services continued to contribute more than 40% to economic growth in the first three quarters.

In the first three quarters, the year-on-year growth rates of equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing accelerated by 0.9 and 1.0 percentage points respectively compared with the first half of the year. New industrial driving forces contribute more than 50% to the growth of industrial added value above designated size. Rapid growth and increased contribution means that the scale of new industrial driving forces continues to expand, and its driving and pulling effects on related industries and related industries continue to increase.

New driving forces in the service industry have also accelerated their growth and their contributions have continued to increase. The added value of modern service industries such as information transmission software and information technology services, leasing and business services increased by 10.4% and 12.3% year-on-year respectively. R&D and design, modern logistics, and financial services were improved and expanded, and the added value of the financial industry, transportation, warehousing, and postal industries increased by 5.8% and 5.1% respectively.

Third, domestic demand gradually improved.

From the perspective of domestic consumption, in the first three quarters, the total retail sales of consumer goods and services increased by 2.6% year-on-year, especially the retail sales of services increased by 5%; consumption contributed 46.7% to economic growth, driving economic growth by 2.1 percentage points.

From the perspective of imports, in the first three quarters, China's import growth rate exceeded 20%. In addition to mineral products, imported goods also include electronic products, agricultural products, and consumer goods, which is an important manifestation of the improvement of the domestic market.

Fourth, foreign trade grew strongly.

In the first three quarters, China's import and export of goods trade reached 39.94 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.8%. Moreover, China's foreign trade growth rate in the first three quarters of this year was the fastest in the same period in the past five years, and quarterly and monthly growth rates are also generally accelerating.

Since the beginning of this year, China's total import and export volume has maintained rapid growth, showing strong resilience. Exports have maintained double-digit growth, and imports have increased by more than 20%.

As the "world's factory", China was once the world's "super seller"; with the rapid growth of imports, China is now both the "world market" and the "super buyer". This change in role reflects the strong comprehensive competitiveness of Chinese industries.

Fifth, prices rose moderately.

Affected by rising energy prices caused by the situation in the Middle East, global inflationary pressure has increased. However, in the first three quarters, China's consumer price index (CPI) generally maintained a moderate increase, up 0.9% year-on-year.

Mao Shengyong said that since the beginning of this year, China's CPI monthly growth has been around 1%, remaining stable. In the first three quarters, after deducting energy and food prices, the core CPI rose by 1.1%. "This is not easy."