The report of China's economic operation in the first quarter was announced on the 16th. Multiple indicators showed that the economic operation was stable, strengthened and improving.

GDP growth rate rose to 18.3% year-on-year

In the first quarter, China’s GDP was 24,931 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), calculated at comparable prices, an increase of 18.3% year-on-year, an increase of 0.6% from the fourth quarter of 2020, and an increase of 10.3% from the first quarter of 2019, a two-year average an increase of 5.0%.

The sharp rebound in GDP growth is related to the negative growth of China's economy due to the epidemic in the first quarter of last year, the low base, the gradual recovery of market demand and the local Chinese New Year. Liu Aihua, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics of China, said that comprehensively based on various indicators, the overall economy is currently in a stable state of recovery.

Rapid growth of new kinetic energy

According to official data, the value added of China's high-tech manufacturing industry in the first quarter increased by 31.2% year-on-year, and the two-year average growth rate was 12.3%. The added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 39.9% year-on-year, and the two-year average growth rate was 9.7%, both faster than the overall growth rate of all industries above designated size. Investment in high-tech industries increased by 37.3% year-on-year, with an average growth rate of 9.9% in two years, which was 7 percentage points faster than total investment.

At the same time, the online retail sales of physical goods in the first quarter increased by 25.8% year-on-year, and the two-year average increased by 15.4%, accounting for nearly 22% of the total retail sales of consumer goods.

The accelerated growth of new momentum represented by high-tech industries indicates that the quality of China's economy has improved, and the endogenous power and growth momentum have become stronger. However, manufacturing investment has fallen by an average of 2% in two years, which is currently only about 96% before the epidemic, which means that while new momentum is accelerating, some traditional sectors have not fully recovered. Wang Jun, chief economist of Zhongyuan Bank, reminded that this kind of unbalanced recovery needs attention.

Consumption continues to pick up

Consumption is the "hardest hit" in the epidemic. In the “troika” of investment, export, and consumption last year, China's only consumption did not return to its pre-epidemic level. However, consumption improved significantly in the first quarter of this year. The total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 33.9% year-on-year and 1.86% month-on-month. Among them, the total retail sales of consumer goods in March increased by 34.2% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points higher than that in the first two months.

Ren Xingzhou, the former director of the Market Economy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council of China, said that the increase in consumption data is not caused by price increases, but consumption itself is accelerating recovery, which is a positive development worthy of recognition.

Liu Aihua said that it has never been seen that as the economy recovers steadily, the employment income of residents will continue to improve, which is conducive to further enhancing spending power.

Both foreign trade and foreign capital are better than before the epidemic

In the first quarter, China's foreign trade and foreign investment both ushered in a "good start." The total value of imports and exports of trade in goods increased by 29.2% year-on-year, and the growth rate hit a new high since 2011. Among them, exports increased by 38.7% year-on-year, imports increased by 19.3%, and the trade surplus increased by 690.6% year-on-year. Compared with the same period in 2019, imports and exports, exports and imports increased by 20.5%, 22.5% and 18.2% respectively, which are also at a relatively high level.

In the same period, China's actual use of foreign capital increased by 39.9% year-on-year and 24.8% year-on-year. There were more than 10,000 newly established foreign-invested enterprises nationwide, an increase of 47.8% year-on-year and an increase of 6.7% year-on-year.

Liang Ming, director of Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that China's foreign trade and foreign investment will reach a record high this year, and the foreign investment of more than 150 billion US dollars is ‘basically no problem’.

Unemployment rate has fallen and residents’ income has risen

As one of the important indicators for measuring people's livelihood, 2.97 million new jobs were created in cities and towns in China in the first quarter, fulfilling 27% of the annual target tasks. In March, the nationwide surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.3%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points from February and a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from the same period last year.

During the same period, the per capita disposable income of Chinese residents was 9,730 yuan, a year-on-year nominal increase of 13.7%, and an average two-year nominal increase of 7.0%. Employment has increased and income has risen. Both indicators indicate that the Chinese economy is recovering steadily.

The vitality of market players continues to be released

Driven by the continued improvement of the economy, China's market players have grown rapidly since the beginning of this year, and the average daily newly established market players have shown double-digit growth. Business expectations are also steadily improving. In March, the expectation index for production and operation activities of manufacturing enterprises and the expectation index for business activities of non-manufacturing enterprises were both around 60%, maintaining a relatively high level.

Liu Aihua said that the vitality of market entities, the endogenous economic power and the quality of supply are improving. Combining the recovery trend in these fields with China's long-term advantages such as strong material foundation, complete industrial system, and abundant human resources, it can well combine the factors of supply and demand. They are "full of confidence" that the economy will maintain the current recovery trend throughout the year.