SCIO briefing on China's economic performance in first quarter of 2021

Shou Xiaoli:

Thank you, Ms. Liu for your introduction. The floor is now open for questions. Please identify the media organization you represent before asking your questions.

CCTV:

Ms. Liu, from the data that was just released, we can see that the GDP in the first quarter achieved rapid growth of 18.3%. I would like to ask, what factors contributed to this growth rate? How should we understand the current operation of the overall economy? The first quarter of this year is also the first quarter of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) period. What's your comment on China's economic performance for the start of the year? Thank you.

Liu Aihua:

Thank you for your questions. Judging from the main indicators for the first quarter just introduced, it can be said that in this period, despite the tests the pandemic gave rise to in winter and spring and the uncertainties of the external environment, the outcomes we achieved in coordinating the pandemic prevention and control with economic and social development have been consolidated and expanded. On the whole, China's economy has continued to recover steadily, with a positive start. Its characteristics are mainly reflected in five aspects:

First, production demand continues to improve. Because of the low base in the same period last year and the increase in working days as many people stayed put for the Spring Festival, this year's year-on-year growth rate has shown a different trend from previous years. We need to judge the economic situation from multiple angles. Judging from the year-on-year situation, due to the gradual recovery of market demand, the relatively low base of the previous year, and the stay-put celebrations, the main indicators showed double-digit growth. In the first quarter, the GDP increased by 18.3% year-on-year, as did the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size by 24.5%, the total retail sales of consumer goods by 33.9%, fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) by 25.6%, and total imports and exports of goods by 29.2%. The year-on-year growth rate of these indicators was all double-digit. From a quarter-on-quarter perspective, the main indicators continued to grow. In the first quarter, the value added by industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 2.01% from the fourth quarter of the previous year, the total retail sales of consumer goods by 1.86% from the previous quarter, and fixed asset investment by 2.06%. Looking at the average growth rate over the past two years, the GDP in the first quarter increased by an average of 5%, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size by an average of 6.8%, the total retail sales of consumer goods by an average of 4.2%, the investment in fixed assets by an average of 2.9%, and the average growth rate of the total amount of goods imported and exported was also close to 10%. Therefore, by combining these indicators, it can be said that the overall economy is in stable recovery.

Second, employment and commodity prices are generally stable. In the first quarter, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas across the country averaged 5.4%, a year-on-year decrease of 0.4 percentage points. That includes an unemployment rate of 5.3% in March, down 0.6 percentage points year-on-year. In the first quarter, 2.97 million new jobs were created in urban areas across the country, fulfilling 27% of the annual target. In terms of commodity prices, consumer prices in the first quarter remained flat year-on-year. In March, a decline of 0.2% in the previous month turned to an increase of 0.4%, indicating a relatively moderate increase.