China's economy grows steadily at 6.7% in third quarter

Beijing: China’s GDP growth was “steady” at 6.7 percent in the third quarter of this year, according to a government data released today, signaling that the world’s second-largest economy is stabilising after continuous slowdown.  The figure, released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), remained within the government’s targeted range of between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016. On a quarterly basis, the economy rose 1.8 percent from the second quarter, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. GDP expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2016 to reach 52.997 trillion yuan (USD 7.87 trillion). NBS spokesperson Sheng Laiyun said China’s economy grew steadily with progress made and quality improved, as a result of appropriately expanded aggregate demand, the supply-side structural reform, positive development anticipation and accelerated fostering of new drivers. The data showed that China’s industrial output expanded 6 percent in the first three quarters of 2016, largely due to strong performance in the high-tech and equipment manufacturing sectors. However, the growth rate was unchanged from that in the first half of the year, NBS said. Industrial output is used to measure the activity of large designated enterprises with an annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan (USD 2.97 million). In September, industrial output rose 6.1 percent year on year, missing forecasts of 6.4 percent, and down from 6.3 percent in August. The increase in the country’s industrial output was largely buoyed by the fast-developing high-tech and equipment manufacturing sectors. China’s fiscal revenue also rose 4.9 percent year on year to 1.122 trillion yuan (USD 166.65 billion) in the third quarter. Revenue growth was up from the 1.7 percent gain posted in August. The central government collected 491.7 billion yuan in fiscal revenue in September, up 6.2 percent year on year, while local governments saw fiscal revenue rise 3.8 percent to 630.5 billion yuan. In the first nine months, fiscal revenue rose 5.9 percent year on year to 12.14 trillion yuan. The ministry said the country is expected to face a grim situation in terms of fiscal revenue increases in the last quarter, due to continued economic downward pressures. China’s retail sales of consumer goods grew 10.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters of the year, accelerating from the 10.3 percent expansion in the first half of the year, on the back of robust online sales. Total retail sales of consumer goods stood at 23.8 trillion yuan (about USD 3.54 trillion), the NBS data said. The data showed strong consumption in rural areas, with retail sales expanding 10.9 percent, outpacing the 10.3 percent expansion in urban areas. Internet-based retail continued to boom, with online sales surging 26.1 per cent year on year to nearly 3.5 trillion yuan from January to September. Retail sales have contributed significantly to China’s economic growth as the country is shifting from an export-driven economy to a consumption and service-led one. In the first three quarters, consumption contributed 71 percent to China’s GDP growth, up 13.3 percentage points on the same period last year, Sheng said. Booming retail sales are behind China’s stabilising economy, which grew 6.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2016, steady with the first half of the year, and within the government’s target range of between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016.