China’s GDP rose by 6.1% last year
January 21, 2020 Category China News Round-up, Weekly
The Chinese economy not only remained stable last year, it expanded by 6.1% despite external turbulence. After 6% year-on-year GDP growth in the last quarter, which was unchanged from Q3, China’s economy registered annual growth of 6.1% year-on-year, which is within the country’s target range of 6% to 6.5% set for 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). China’s annual GDP amounted to CNY99.09 trillion last year, while per capita GDP topped USD10,000 for the first time at USD10,276. “Even under such heavy downward pressure from the external environment, the Chinese economy has remained largely stable. This is, without a doubt, an indication of China’s great resilience,” Liu Chunsheng, Associate Professor of International Trade at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said.
Output growth of the services sector stood at 6.9% last year, outpacing the 5.7 % growth of the industrial sector, while retail sales rose by 8.0% from 9.0% in 2018. The consumer price index rose by 4.5% year-on-year in December, but its growth was zero month-on-month.
China added 13.52 million new urban jobs last year, with employment remaining stable among college graduates, migrant workers and other groups vulnerable to unemployment, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said. The urban jobless rate was kept low at 3.62%.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its 2020 GDP growth forecast for China from 5.8% to 6% as a result of the phase-one trade deal. Another factor that will influence economic growth is the declining increase of the population. The birthrate in China reached a record low last year. The total number of babies born was 14.65 million, a decrease of 580,000 from the previous year, while the birthrate stood at 10.48 per 1,000 population – the lowest over the past seven decades, according to the NBS. The total population on the Chinese mainland narrowly exceeded 1.4 billion by the end of last year, an increase of 4.7 million year-on-year. The working-age population between 16 and 59 years-old decreased by 890,000 in 2019 from the previous year to 896 million, accounting for 64% of the population, while the number of people 60 or above increased to nearly 254 million, accounting for 18% of the population.
Housing prices stabilized in major Chinese cities last month. New home prices declined in 16 cities in December, while in the secondary market 26 out of the 70 major cities tracked by the NBS recorded monthly declines in pre-owned home prices. Fifty cities reported growth in new home prices in December, six more than the 44 in November, and nine less than in December 2018. At the same time, 38 out of the 70 cities saw their pre-owned residential property prices grow, six more than the previous month, and nine less than a year ago.
China has the confidence and the ability to meet challenges this year to keep its economy in the proper range and to make continued social progress, Premier Li Keqiang said in Beijing when meeting with foreign experts working in China. He added that China will always be a staunch force for globalization and seek win-win results in cooperation with all countries during further opening-up.
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