6. Import and export further increased, and the trade structure continued to improve.

The total value of imports and exports in 2017 was 27.7921 trillion yuan, up by 14.2 percent over last year, putting an end to the continuous decrease in the past two years. The total value of exports was 15.3318 trillion yuan, up by 10.8 percent; the total value of imports was 12.4603 trillion yuan, up by 18.7 percent. The trade balance was 2.8716 trillion yuan in surplus. 

The value of general trade increased by 16.8 percent, accounting for 56.4 percent of the total value of imports and exports, 1.3 percentage points higher than last year. The export of electrical and mechanical products increased by 12.1 percent, accounting for 58.4 percent of the total value of imports and exports, 0.7 percentage point higher than last year. 

In December, the total value of imports and exports was 2.7065 trillion yuan, up by 4.5 percent year-on-year. Of this total, the value of exports was 1.5342 trillion yuan, up by 7.4 percent; and the value of imports was 1.1722 trillion yuan, up by 0.9 percent.

7. Consumer prices rose mildly and the PPI shifted from a decrease to an increase.

In 2017, consumer prices went up by 1.6 percent year-on-year, 0.4 percentage point slower than the previous year. Specifically, the price went up by 1.7 percent in urban areas and up by 1.3 percent in rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and liquor went down by 0.4 percent; clothing up by 1.3 percent; residences up by 2.6 percent; household facilities, articles and services up by 1.1 percent; transportation and communications up by 1.1 percent; education, culture and recreation up by 2.4 percent; health care and medical services up by 6.0 percent; and miscellaneous goods and services up by 2.4 percent. In terms of food, tobacco and liquor prices, grain rose by 1.5 percent, pork fell by 8.8 percent and fresh vegetables fell by 8.1 percent. In December, consumer prices went up by 1.8 percent year-on-year, or up by 0.3 percent month-on-month. In 2017, the PPI went up by 6.3 percent compared with the previous year, putting an end to the five-year decrease since 2012; the year-on-year growth in December was 4.9 percent and the month-on-month growth was 0.8 percent. In 2017, the purchasing prices for industrial producers were up by 8.1 percent over the previous year and in December, it was up by 5.9 percent year-on-year and up by 0.8 percent month-on-month. 

8. The growth of resident income accelerated and the income of rural residents grew faster than that of urban ones. 

In 2017, the nationwide per capita disposable income of residents was 25,974 yuan, a nominal growth of 9 percent over the previous year, or a real increase of 7.3 percent after deducting price factors, 1 percentage point faster than the previous year. In terms of permanent residence, the per capita disposable income of urban households was 36,396 yuan, a real growth of 6.5 percent after deducting price factors. The per capita disposable income of rural households was 13,432 yuan, up by 7.3 percent in real terms after deducting price factors. The per capita income of urban households was 2.71 times that of the rural households, 0.01 less than the previous year. The median of the nationwide per capita disposable income was 22,408 yuan, a nominal increase of 7.3 percent. Taking the per capita disposable income of nationwide households by income quintiles, that of the low-income group reached 5,958 yuan, the lower-middle-income group 13,843 yuan, the middle-income group 22,495 yuan, the upper-middle-income group 34,547 yuan, and the high-income group 64,934 yuan. In 2017, the nationwide per capita consumption expenditure was 18,322 yuan, a nominal increase of 7.1 percent, or a real increase of 5.4 percent after deducting price factors. The number of rural migrant workers in 2017 totaled 286.52 million, which was 4.81 million more than the previous year, up by 1.7 percent. Specifically, the number of migrant workers working in the places where they hold household registration was 114.67 million and the number of migrant workers working in the places where they don't hold household registration was 171.85 million, up by 2 and 1.5 percent respectively. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,485 yuan, up by 6.4 percent over the previous year.

9. The supply-side structural reform was further pushed forward and the transformation and upgrading made new achievements.

The efforts of cutting overcapacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening weak areas were enhanced firmly. The industries of steel and coal have successfully fulfilled the annual task of cutting overcapacity. The national industrial capacity utilization rate reached 77 percent, the highest over the past five years. The inventories of commercial buildings continued to decrease, and at the end of December, the floor space of commercial buildings for sale was 106.16 million square meters less than that at the end of 2016. The leverage ratio of industrial enterprises continued to decrease. At the end of November, the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size was 55.8 percent, 0.5 percentage points lower than the same period of the previous year. The cost of enterprises continued to decrease. For the first eleven months, the cost for per-hundred-yuan turnover of principal activities of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was 85.26 yuan, 0.28 yuan less compared with the same period of the previous year. Investment in weak areas grew rapidly. In 2017, investment in ecological protection and treatment of environmental pollution, management of water conservancy and agriculture went up by 23.9 percent, 16.4 percent and 16.4 percent respectively over the previous year, or 16.7, 9.2 and 9.2 percentage points faster than the total investment. 

Innovation-driven development continued to gain momentum and new driving forces grew rapidly. In 2017, the number of newly registered enterprises nationwide was 6.074 million, up by 9.9 percent over the previous year, an average of 16.6 thousand each day. A number of major achievements were scored in science and technology, such as aerospace, artificial intelligence, deep sea exploration and biological medicine. New industries and products were booming. The value added of industrial strategic emerging industries grew by 11 percent compared with the previous year, 4.4 percentage points faster than the industries above the designated size; the production of industrial robots grew by 68.1 percent compared with the previous year, and that of new energy vehicles by 51.1 percent. The economic structure continued to be optimized. In 2017, the contribution of the value added of the tertiary industry to GDP accounted for 58.8 percent, 1.3 percentage points higher than the previous year. Consumption became the major driving force for economic growth. The contribution of the final consumption expenditure to GDP accounted for 58.8 percent, 26.7 percentage points higher than the gross capital formation. Green development was solidly promoted. The energy consumption per 10,000 yuan worth of GDP went down by 3.7 percent over the previous year. 

10. The population increased steadily with a continuous increase of the urbanization rate 

By the end of 2017, the total population of the Chinese mainland was 1.39008 billion (including the population of 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and servicemen in the PLA; but not including residents in Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan and overseas Chinese), an increase of 7.37 million over that at the end of 2016. In 2017, the number of births was 17.23 million and the birth rate was 12.43 in a thousand; the number of deaths was 9.86 million with a death rate of 7.11 in a thousand; the natural growth rate was 5.32 in a thousand. In terms of gender, the male population was 711.37 million, and female population was 678.71 million; the sex ratio of the total population was 104.81 (the female is 100). The population at the working age of 16-59 was 901.99 million, accounting for 64.9 percent of the total population; the population aged 60 and over was 240.90 million, which was 17.3 percent of the total population; the population aged 65 and over was 158.31 million, accounting for 11.4 percent of the total population. In terms of urban-rural structure, the permanent residents in urban areas was 813.47 million, an increase of 20.49 million over the end of the previous year; and the usual residents in rural areas was 576.61 million, a decrease of 13.12 million. The proportion of the urban population to the total population (urbanization rate) was 58.52 percent, 1.17 percentage points higher than that at the end of 2016. The population who reside in areas other than their household registration and have been away from there for over 6 months reached 291 million, which was 0.98 million less than the previous year. Specifically, the floating population was 244 million, or 0.82 million less than that at the end of 2016. At the end of 2017, the total number of employed persons was 776.40 million and the number of urban employed persons was 424.62 million.

Generally speaking, in 2017 the national economy maintained the momentum of stable and sound development and exceeded expectations with firm steps taken to secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. We should also be aware that there are still difficulties and challenges confronting the economy, and the improvement of quality and efficiency remains a daunting task. At the next stage, we should rally closer around the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guideline, deeply implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Work Conference, adhere to the general working guideline of making progress while maintaining stability, stick to the new development philosophy and grasp the evolution of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society. We should comply with the requirements for high quality development, promote balanced economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress, coordinate the implementation of the four-pronged comprehensive strategy, deepen the supply-side structural reform, coordinate the efforts in stabilizing growth, stimulating reform, adjusting the structure, benefiting people’s livelihood and fending off risks, take solid steps to forestall and defuse major risks, carry out targeted poverty alleviation and prevent and control pollution, and promote sustained and sound development of the economy and society.  

Thank you.

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