BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) — The Chinese economy has built recovery momentum in April, with key economic indicators demonstrating strong resilience and potentials to temper the impacts of external shocks, according to official data released on Friday.
ACCELERATED INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
China’s value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 6.7 percent year on year in April, accelerating 2.2 percentage points from March, data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.
On a monthly basis, industrial output edged up 0.97 percent in April from the previous month, the highest month-on-month growth rate recorded over the recent years, according to NBS spokesperson Liu Aihua, at a press conference.
From January to April, industrial output rose 6.3 percent year on year, 0.2 percentage points higher than that from January to March.
Boosted by policies aimed to keep the foreign trade stable, the export delivery value of the industrial sector climbed 7.3 percent year on year in April, 5.9 percentage points faster than that of March.
The uptick in export delivery value prompted the recovery of sub-sectors that have a large share in exports, such as the electronics and textile sectors, Liu said, attributing it as an important reason for the quickened industrial expansion.
The industrial output is used to measure the activity of enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.82 million U.S. dollars).
OTHER POSITIVE SIGNS
Friday’s data also showed that the surveyed urban unemployment rate in China stood at 5 percent in April, down 0.2 percentage points from a month ago. The rate was also lower than the 5.2 percent reading a year ago.
Fixed-asset investment rose 4.2 percent year on year to 14.34 trillion yuan during the January-April period.
China’s retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country’s consumption strength, climbed 4.1 percent year on year in the first four months of this year.
In April alone, retail sales of consumer goods increased 2.3 percent from a year ago, slower than the 3.1 percent growth in March, data showed.
Although some indicators have reported an eased year-on-year growth in April due to factors such as a higher base from the same period last year, China’s economy maintained generally stable expansion, sustaining a sound recovery momentum, commented Liu.
RESILIENCE TO WITHSTAND EXTERNAL SHOCKS
The United States on Tuesday decided to raise additional tariffs on its imports of some Chinese products including electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, critical minerals, semiconductors, steel and aluminum, and cranes, on top of existing tariffs under Section 301.
In response to a media query on the additional U.S. tariffs posing possible impacts on the Chinese economy, Liu said that the Chinese economy has showed stronger resilience and potentials, which will help offset the implications from external shocks.
Domestic demand has continued to recover, propelled by the country’s super-large market, according to Liu, citing the 12.2 percent year-on-year increase of China’s imports of goods in April. “The figure is apparently faster than the export growth, mirroring a rising trend of domestic demand.”
In terms of international circulation, Liu underlined the solid expansion of China’s total goods imports and exports, which gained 5.7 percent year on year in yuan terms in the first four months of this year.
The country is also a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, adding to the proof that China’s foreign trade has strong resilience and competitive edges, Liu added. ■
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