SCIO press briefing on Q1 economic performance
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E-mail China.org.cn, April 18, 2017
China News Service:
It's inspiring to see a 6.9 percent GDP growth rate in Q1. A latest report released by the World Bank has shown that China's growth is projected to continue easing steadily, to 6.5% in 2017 and 6.3% in 2018, as the government rebalances toward consumption and services. Mr. Mao, in your opinion, what are the future prospects of China's economic growth? Thank you.
Mao Shengyong:
Thank you for your question. Some international organizations and research institutes often make predictions for the economic growth of China and other major economies. Scholars and media in China have also shown their optimistic or pessimistic views. In my opinion, there are two characteristics of China's economy in the next stage and for the medium-and-long period.
Firstly, China's economy is becoming more stable, which means stable in growth rate, employment, commodity prices and incomes. Your concern is regarding the growth rate. China's economic growth rate was 6.9 percent in 2015, 6.7 percent in 2016 and 6.9 percent again in Q1 this year. The slight fluctuation shows the stability of economic growth.
The favorable growth rate brings promising employment. In the past few years, China added more than 13 million jobs in urban areas every year, with the unemployment rate staying under 5 percent and fast growth in the income of urban and rural residents. Fluctuation of economic growth is reasonable as long as the rise of commodity prices can be controlled, the employment can be guaranteed and the incomes can grow. This year's government work report sets the GDP growth target at 6.5% for 2017.
The recent years have seen dramatic changes in China's industrial structure. The tertiary industry now accounts for more than 50 percent of all the three industries, with 51.6 percent in 2016, which contributes much for the stability of China's economic growth. The service sector, with promising development and high growth, has become the anchor and stabilizer of economic growth. Meanwhile, the increasing contribution from consumption is a strong support for the country's economic stability.
Secondly, China's economic development sees a promising future. China is still a developing country, with GDP per capita of US$8,000. The potential of coordinated development of new urbanization, new industrialization, agricultural modernization and informatization is great. The fast development in the last 40 years has accumulated abundant capital, manpower capital, talent dividends and reform dividends which have been released by the supply-side structural reform and the reforms in key sectors. From the perspective of the medium-and-long-term, China's economic development is promising. Thank you.
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