China continues to lead global recovery despite setbacks, its first three quarters of this year have been short of exceptional recording a 9.8% GDP growth rising above the 6% annual target.
This is a feat given the recent challenges like the property crisis and a power crunch that was leading to a cripling scenario. In the latest report released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached US12.8 trillion in the first three quarters, expanding 9.8 percent year on year.
In the third quarter, the country’s GDP grew 4.9 percent year on year, slower than the growth of 18.3 percent in Q1 and 7.9 percent in Q2. The Q3 moderation was affected by the resurgence of the pandemic, floods, and a high comparison base last year, its spokesperson noted, adding that the economy showed strong resilience and vitality despite these challenges.
The world’s second-largest economy faced a series of challenges in the third quarter. The heavy summer rains brought severe floods to many provinces, disrupting economic activities. A new round of COVID-19 resurgence attributable to the Delta variant occurred in multiple cities, adding to local governments’ pressure to keep regular economic operations.
A power crunch lately has added to the pressure. Rising international energy prices and tight domestic coal supplies partly led to power outages in some regions, affecting regular production orders.
“China’s power shortage is only temporary, and its impact on the economy is under control,” the spokesperson added said, citing NBS data that the country’s power generation accelerated in September, climbing 4.9 percent year on year last month compared with a year earlier.
The data also pointed to many bright spots in the economy with retail sales of consumer goods jumping 16.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters this year, with online retail sales surging 18.5 percent.
Its urban unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in September, 0.5 percentage points lower than the same period last year. During the Jan.-Sept. period, China added 10.45 million new urban jobs in the first three quarters, achieving 95 percent of the target for the whole year.
However, the country is cautious recognising rising uncertainties in the international environment and uneven recovery in the domestic economy, adding that it will take various measures to keep the economy running within a reasonable range.
