China’s Q1 GDP growth steady at 6.4%, beating forecast

2019-04-18
cgtn.com

China’s economy expanded by 6.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, enjoying a stable performance with growing positive factors, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on April 17.

The GDP stood up by 6.4 percent year-on-year at 21.34 trillion yuan (about $3.18 trillion) in the first three months of the year, unchanged from the fourth quarter last year and 0.4 percentage point lower than that of the same period last year, indicating stable economic growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

The total value added of major industrial firms secured a rapid gain of 6.5 percent year-on-year in Q1, 1.2 percentage points higher as compared to the first two months of 2019. The profits generated by the enterprises falling under this category went down by 14 percent to 708 billion yuan in the first two months.

The tertiary sector registered a whopping growth in added value by seven percent to the tune of 12.232 trillion yuan, making up for 57.3 percent of the Q1 GDP and inching up by 0.6 percentage points as compared to the same period of 2018.

In the January-March period, national per capita disposable income shot up by 6.8 percent in real terms to 8,493 yuan, with urban households posting a real rise of 5.9 percent to reach 11,633 yuan and rural counterpart by 6.9 percent to 4,600 yuan.

In according with NBS data, consumption served as the main growth driver for Q1 GDP, constituting 65.1 percent to the total economic growth.

The investment in Q1 rebounded steadily as real estate and fixed-asset (excluding rural household) investment expanded 11.8 and 6.3 percent in the first quarter compared from the same period a year earlier, quickening slightly from the 11.6-percent gain in the first two months and in line with estimates of 6.3 percent, respectively.

And the investment in high-tech manufacturing rose by 11.4 percent year-on-year, 5.1 percentage points higher than that of the total investment.

The total value of imports and exports saw accelerated growth in Q1 at 7.0 trillion yuan, 3.0 percentage points higher than that of the first two months.

The export of electrical and mechanical products grew by 5.4 percent, accounting for 58.8 percent of the total value of exports. While the total value of imports and exports by private enterprises increased by 9.9 percent, accounting for 40.6 percent of the total value of imports and exports.

China aims for the economic growth of 6.0-6.5 percent in 2019 and has hence rolled out an array of economic stimulus plans to beef up domestic demand.