BEIJING: China continues to enjoy strong growth which is projected at 6.7 percent for 2017, and shows potential to sustain the increasing momentum over the medium term, said International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a recent annual report. Key data released by China’s State Statistics Bureau in July and August reflect the country has maintained smooth economic development with stable prices and employment in the first half of 2017. The economy is performing reasonably and stably. According to official figures, the first six months witnessed a year-on-year GDP increase of 6.9 percent, growing 0.2 percent faster, compared with the same period last year. Given the data falling within the range of 6.7-6.9 percent in eight straight quarters, China is improving its stability.
The employment situation is optimized. Against the background of a proactive policies aiming to promote service sector, public entrepreneur and innovation, 8.55 million new jobs have been created in urban areas during the period, a year-over-year increase by 200,000, said Mao Shengyong, a spokesman of the statistics bureau. Mao added that the urban surveyed unemployment rate remained low, which dropped around 5.1 percent this July, down from a year earlier. The general price level is stabilized. In the first couple of months, the government managed to bring the prices under control with consumer price index (CPI) slightly rising 1.4 percent year-on-year, according to the statistics office. International balance of payments has been improved. Data released by the People’s Bank of China indicated that by the end of July, the Chinese currency renminbi appreciated to 6.7283 yuan against the US dollar, up 0.69 percent from last month. Meanwhile, the foreign exchange reserve has reached 3.0807 trillion dollars, increasing in the sixth month by 23.9 billion.
China’s supply-side structural reform, which has gained steam, has greatly improved the development efficiency and quality, backing up a promising market. As the economy is becoming more efficient, industrial enterprises at national scale have gained a profit increase of 21.2 percent, growing 14.3 faster year on year, National Statistics Bureau confirmed on Aug. 28. The quality also forges ahead. In a bid to conserve energy and natural resources, clean energy registered a 0.7-percent up in overall energy consumption than that in the same period last year, helping improving the country’s environment. Market expectation trends up. As revealed by the bureau, in July, the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) of manufacturing sector continued to be above the critical point of 50 in 12 straight months, and the non-manufacturing PMI remained at or above 54 percent in 10 straight months, maintaining good posture.
