July 17, 2023
BEIJING – China’s GDP grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year to 59.3 trillion yuan ($8.3 trillion), posting a steady economic rebound, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.）
In the second quarter, the economy rose by 6.3 percent compared with a year earlier, up from 4.5 percent in the first quarter of the year. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China’s GDP increased by 0.8 percent in the second quarter of the year, the NBS said.
Figures released by the NBS showed China’s value-added industrial output, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 4.4 percent in June from a year earlier after a 3.5 percent rise in May.
In the first half of the year, value-added industrial output grew by 3.8 percent compared to the same period last year, while in the first quarter, it rose by 3 percent from a year earlier.
Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, grew by 3.1 percent year-on-year in June, down from the 12.7 percent growth in May.
In the first half of the year, retail sales rose by 8.2 percent compared to the same period last year, while in the first quarter, they grew by 5.8 percent from a year earlier.
In the January-June period, fixed-asset investment, a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment, grew by 3.8 percent compared with a year earlier, while in the January-May period, it jumped 4 percent year-on-year.
The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.2 percent in June, flat with the previous month, according to the NBS.
Despite the steady recovery, the NBS warned of pressures from a complicated international environment, saying the foundation for the economic rebound is not yet solid.
More efforts should be made to promote high-quality growth, fully deepen reforms and opening-up, accelerate the modernization of the industrial system, improve the economic structure and gather new growth momentum, the NBS said.