Painstaking efforts needed to stabilize overall Chinese economic performance: Premier Li

BEIJING, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday that the Chinese economy on the whole has withstood the downward pressure and stabilized and rebounded, but painstaking efforts are still needed to stabilize overall economic performance as the recovery is not yet firmly established.

Li made the remarks at the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum.

Under the impacts from a new round of COVID flare-ups and other factors beyond expectation, downward pressure on the Chinese economy rose steeply, and major economic indicators tumbled in April, Li said.

China responded with resolute action, put stable growth higher on the agenda, worked to front-load the policies that have been set, and introduced and implemented a package of policy measures for stabilizing the economy, to ease corporate burdens and catalyze vitality, he added. "These policies have delivered results fairly quickly."

According to the premier, in May, the decline in major economic indicators slowed. In June, the economy stabilized and rebounded. Major economic indicators picked up fairly fast and returned to the positive territory. The surveyed urban unemployment rate notably fell. As a result, GDP registered a positive growth year-on-year in the second quarter, and expanded by 2.5 percent in the first half of the year.

"This is no easy accomplishment," he said.

Li pointed out that the fairly quick stabilization and recovery of the enormous Chinese economy in the first half of the year after a short downturn is mainly attributable to the strong efforts in supporting market entities to keep employment stable and maintaining price stability to ensure livelihoods. These efforts have provided important buttresses for the economy.