Economic Watch: China’s economy maintains stable growth in August

BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) — The Chinese economy posted stable growth in August as the country has kept advancing high-quality development, official data showed Saturday.
Last month, a broad range of key indicators maintained steady expansion, with production and demand recovering, and overall employment and prices remaining stable, Liu Aihua, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at a press conference.
In August, however, China faced a more complex environment at home and abroad, while natural disasters such as high temperatures, heavy rain and floods continued to impact economic activity, she said.
“Despite the challenges, macro policies continued to show significant results,” Liu said, adding that with the steady progress of transformation and upgrading and new results achieved in high-quality development, the economic operation continued to develop steadily.
China’s value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, sustained stable growth in August, expanding 4.5 percent year on year, the data showed.
The equipment manufacturing sector contributed 47.9 percent to the entire industrial output growth, Liu said, adding that new growth drivers for the manufacturing sector are being strengthened.
“With the continuous in-depth application of sci-tech innovation achievements and digital technologies, and the upgrading and development of booster industries that specialize in areas including process upgrading, digital empowerment, as well as green and low-carbon technologies, new industrial drivers have continued to grow,” the spokesperson noted.
Last month, the output of electronic and communication devices saw double-digit year-on-year increases for the 10th consecutive month. The value-added output of smart unmanned aircraft soared by 54 percent, and the production of new energy vehicles surged by 30.5 percent, Liu said.
Apart from industrial output, China’s consumer market has maintained stable recovery with retail sales increasing 2.1 percent year on year in August, the data showed.
Commenting on the data, Liu highlighted the recovery trend of the consumer market, especially in services, new-type consumption and online sales.
The service sector continued to register recovery momentum, with the service production index rising 4.6 percent year on year in August. Driven by summer travel, the growth rate of the accommodation and catering industry accelerated compared with the previous month, she said.
China has rolled out an array of measures to boost consumption this year, including a program that promotes large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins. Recently, the government further stepped up efforts to encourage the purchase of automobiles and home appliances, among others.
While recognizing policy impacts, Liu also said that consumption recovery still faces restraints, prompting authorities to channel even more energy into strengthening consumer sentiment and stimulating domestic demand.
The presence of improved government policies and better products and services on the market, means the potential of consumption will be unleashed at a faster pace and thus the consumer market will have a more solid foundation for recovery, Liu added.
Saturday’s data also revealed that the average of surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in the first eight months of the year, down 0.1 percentage points from the same period last year.
“The urban unemployment rate saw a slight increase in August, primarily due to the influx of college graduates entering the labor market,” said Liu.
Meanwhile, boosted by vibrant demand unleashed by China’s new round of large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-in of consumer goods, China’s fixed-asset investment rose 3.4 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2024, according to the NBS data. ■