Consolidating the momentum of sustained economic recovery -- China's economic trend from the "report card" of the beginning of the year

The "report card" of China's economy was released on the 15th. In the face of multiple tests such as the complex and severe international environment and the spread of domestic epidemics, China's economic recovery was better than expected. Looking forward to the whole year, China's economy still faces many risks and challenges, and it still needs to climb over the ridge.
　The national economy is recovering better.
A hundred years of change superimposed on the century epidemic, China is facing a more complex and uncertain external environment, economic development is facing demand contraction, supply shock, expected weakening triple pressure.
"Under the combined effect of macro policies and the efforts of market players, from January to February, my country's economy recovered to a better momentum, laying a solid foundation for a good start in the first quarter of this year." Fu Linghui, spokesman for the National Bureau of statistics and director of the Department of comprehensive statistics of the national economy, said.
Major production demand indicators picked up. From January to February, the added value of industries above designated size nationwide increased by 7.5 percent year-on-year, 3.2 percentage points faster than in December of the previous year; the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 6.7 percent year-on-year, 5 percentage points faster than in December of the previous year.
Fu Linghui said that since the beginning of this year, under the effect of the stable growth policy, from January to February, the year-on-year growth rate of national fixed asset investment has accelerated by 7.3 percentage points over the previous year, and investment in high-tech industries has grown rapidly.
The main statistics show that the national economy is still operating in a reasonable range--
From January to February, the consumer price index rose 0.9 per cent year-on-year, below the expected target of about 3 per cent, and the national urban survey unemployment rate averaged 5.4 per cent, below the expected target of less than 5.5 per cent.
At the end of February, foreign exchange reserves of US $3213.8 billion continued to stabilize at more than US $3.2 trillion, and the balance of payments remained basically balanced.
It is worth noting that on the basis of a high base, my country's total import and export of goods still maintained double-digit growth, with a year-on-year increase of 13.3 from January to February, and the resilience of foreign trade growth continued to show.
From January to February, the added value of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increased by 14.4 per cent year-on-year, and investment in high-tech manufacturing increased by 42.7 per cent; online retail sales of physical goods increased by 12.3 per cent year-on-year; the output of new energy vehicles, industrial robots and solar cells increased by 150.5 per cent, 29.6 per cent and 26.4 per cent respectively year-on-year ...... China's economic "progress" trend continues to show, with new progress made new progress.
　　There are still many favorable conditions for maintaining stable economic development.
Recently, there have been sporadic epidemics in many parts of the country, and the epidemic situation has tightened in some areas. Fu Linghui said that this will objectively have a certain impact on the local economic recovery, but the national epidemic prevention and control situation is generally stable, China has accumulated rich experience in epidemic prevention and control, and a series of measures taken can effectively block the spread of the epidemic, and the impact on the economy will be gradually controlled.
In the face of triple pressure, stable foreign trade has become an important support for steady growth. Fu Linghui said: in the next stage, despite the complex and changeable international environment, the characteristics of China's foreign trade with strong resilience and great potential will not change, the development trend of global cooperation will not change, and the unswerving opening up to the outside world will not change. China's foreign trade is still expected to maintain stable development.
In the international environment, the current global epidemic is spreading, the world situation is volatile, geopolitical conflicts are intensifying, and external instability and uncertainty are increasing.
In response to the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on China's economy, Fu Linghui said that Russia and Ukraine account for a relatively small proportion of China's import and export trade, and their direct impact on China's economy is limited. In the next stage, as all localities continue to adhere to the principle of stability, seek progress in stability, and increase the protection of economic operation, external influences can be controlled within a limited range.
"On the whole, China's economy has the characteristics of sufficient resilience, great potential, and wide space. There are still many favorable conditions for maintaining stable economic development." Fu Linghui said that all regions and departments have increased their efforts to stabilize growth, and there have been obvious positive changes in investment, consumption, and industrial growth. The economic operation in the first quarter can still maintain a stable development trend.
　　Promote the smooth and healthy operation of the economy
"In the face of new downward pressure, we should put steady growth in a more prominent position." -- The government work report emphasizes.
Fu Linghui said that in the next stage, we should continue to scientifically coordinate the prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development, and promote the stable and healthy operation of the economy.
Consumption is the main engine of economic growth. Fu Linghui said that it is necessary to implement the policy of expanding domestic demand, promote the development of relief in difficult industries, continue to do a good job in the prevention and control of normalized epidemics, actively expand the consumption of new services, and promote the stable and healthy development of the service industry.
In terms of stabilizing investment, Fu Linghui said: we should pay attention to improving investment efficiency, actively expand effective investment around major national strategies and the 14th five-year Plan, make good use of special government bonds and funds in the central budget, pry social investment, encourage private investment, and optimize the investment structure.
The hundreds of millions of market players are the key to preserving employment, protecting people's livelihood and stabilizing the economy.
Fu Linghui said, to continue to do a good job of commodity supply and price stability work, multi-measures to increase market supply, reduce production costs of enterprises; implement good support for the manufacturing industry, small and micro enterprises tax and fee reduction policies, strengthen financing support for industries seriously affected by the epidemic, increase innovation tax incentives, maintain the stability of the industrial chain supply chain.
This year's GDP growth of about 5.5-under the complex situation, some foreign media believe that China's economic growth target has been set high, and China's economic prospects are "not optimistic".
"The 5.5 percent growth rate is not low, but there are foundations and conditions for achieving 5.5 percent economic growth: China's economy is continuing to recover, its development is characterized by resilience, potential and momentum, and has been hit by the epidemic in the past two years, and China's economic development is still maintaining a leading position in the world." Fu Linghui said that in the next stage, the steady growth policy will continue to exert force, which will also effectively promote stable economic growth.
 

Source: Xinhua