China's economy demonstrated steady growth in July, according to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.
The value-added industrial output, a crucial economic indicator, grew by 5.1% year-on-year in July. On a monthly basis, industrial output increased by 0.35% compared to the previous month.
NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua highlighted that 80% of industries and nearly 60% of products experienced year-on-year growth, underscoring widespread industrial expansion.
The service production index also saw a significant rise, increasing by 4.8% year-on-year in July, which was a 0.1 percentage point acceleration from June.
Retail sales of consumer goods climbed by 2.7% year-on-year, reaching nearly 3.78 trillion yuan ($529 billion). Bruce Pang, chief economist of JLL Greater China, noted that services consumption stood out, with growth rates accelerating when excluding automobile consumption. This trend effectively stabilized the economy after a slight slowdown in investment growth.
In addition, China's fixed-asset investment rose by 3.6% year-on-year, totaling approximately 28.76 trillion yuan. Foreign trade also showed robust performance, reaching 3.68 trillion yuan, reflecting a 6.5% year-on-year increase.
Liu Aihua emphasized that the expansion in fixed-asset investment, rapid growth in imports and exports, and the continued optimization of the trade structure all contributed to the steady economic performance in July.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
