Interview: China's economy to maintain stable, sound momentum in H2

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- China's economy will maintain a stable and sound trend in the second half of this year (H2), on the basis of sustained recovery in H1, an official with the country's top economic planner has said.

The country has the confidence, conditions and capabilities to continuously improve its economic structure, strengthen growth momentum and maintain sound development to achieve its annual economic and social development targets, said the official with the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's economic recovery in H1, which was hard-won amid weakening external demand, a complex international environment and the combination of cyclical and structural problems at home, was in line with expectations.

The country's gross domestic product grew 5.5 percent year on year in the period, up 1 percentage point from the first quarter. Its average consumer price index increased by 0.7 percent, while the per capita disposable income after deducting price factors rose 5.8 percent from the previous year.

In the fist half, China's value-added industrial output rose 3.7 percent year on year, and its service output expanded by 6.4 percent. The country's retail sales of consumer goods went up 8.2 percent, while its fixed-asset investment and goods exports climbed 3.8 percent and 3.7 percent, respectively.

In the period, the contribution rate of domestic demand to China's economic growth reached 110.8 percent, an increase of 59.4 percentage points year on year, within which the contribution rate of final consumption hit 77.2 percent, soaring 46.4 percentage points.

To expand domestic demand in H2, the official said that the country will make efforts to bolster bulk consumption. It will accelerate the construction of charging and parking facilities, and encourage regions with car purchase restrictions to optimize relative policies.

China will adjust and optimize real estate policies in a timely manner, and make good use of city-specific policy tools to better meet residents' demand for housing.

Efforts will be made to boost holiday purchases, cultural and sports consumption, and policies will be introduced to ramp up consumption related to senior citizens.

To give full play to the key role of investment in improving the supply structure, the official said work will be done to identify key fields in which private capital is encouraged to participate, and facilitate private investment, financing and land use. The country will also make solid progress in major projects for economic and social development and accelerate the issuance and use of special bonds by local governments.

During the first half of 2023, the world's second-largest economy has improved its economic structure, with the investment in high-tech industries up 12.5 percent year on year and the added value of equipment manufacturing up 6.5 percent. Its exports of three tech-intensive green products, namely solar batteries, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles, surged 61.6 percent.

Stressing the fundamental role of the real economy in China's development, the official said that measures will be taken to speed up the implementation of policies to help enterprises overcome difficulties, promote structural adjustments, increase momentum for the real economy and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system.

The country will step up efforts in clearing arrears owed to enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), continue to fine-tune and implement policies in the field of tax and fee cuts, create a good environment that benefits the growth of sci-tech SMEs, and cultivate more specialized and innovative SMEs.

The official added that work will be done to comprehensively upgrade high-end, intelligent and green manufacturing systems, solidly advance intelligent manufacturing, and orderly implement energy-saving and carbon-reduction transformation in key industrial areas.

China will promote deep integration of digital economy with advanced manufacturing and modern service industries, and vigorously develop sectors including artificial intelligence, new materials and new energy.

The official also stressed efforts to further improve the regular communication and exchange mechanism between government departments and companies of all sorts.