China's Economy Heads Toward High-Quality Development
China has made new achievements on its way to high-quality economic development as indicated by economic data released in May. Since the beginning of 2018, the Chinese economy has maintained stable performance with good momentum for growth.
The country’s macro economy is shown to be developing in a stable manner. The country’s GDP, for example, has kept a growth rate between 6.7% and 6.9% for 11 consecutive quarters. As a result of deepening structural reform, The utilization rate of industrial capacity by enterprises above designated size reached 76.5% in the first quarter of 2018, 0.7% higher than the previous year. In addition, the unemployment rate in urban areas dropped by 0.1% to 4.8% on both a yearly and monthly basis.
Micro economy in the country has also been growing steadily. Indicators including the total electricity consumption and volume of railway freights kept growing, reflecting the continuous expansion of Chinese enterprises.
By mid-March, the number of market entities in China had exceeded 100 million, over 31 million of which were enterprises. From January to April of this year, the total profit of enterprises above designated size increased by 15 percent, thanks to a series of beneficial tax policies which have lowered the cost of real economy and injected more energy to push forward the transformation and upgrading of the country’s economy.
Along with the vigorous development came an enhanced confidence of the market. The entrepreneur confidence index climbed to 75.8% in the second quarter, up from 74.2% in the first three months of 2018, according to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). By the end of May, Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in manufacturing sector had stayed above the threshold of 50.0 for 23 consecutive months.
China’s economy fundamentals have stayed positive thanks to resilience and having enough room to maneuver, said Du Feilun, director of the situation analysis department at the Macro Economic Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission of China.
With solid foundations and enormous potential for sustainable development, China’s economy will continue to rise amid dynamic and balanced development.
- Source : Sputnik News
