China News Service, September 15th. In evaluating the current economic situation, Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, pointed out that in August, the national economy overcame the adverse effects of the epidemic and flood conditions and maintained a stable recovery.
Judging from the main data, from January to August, the cumulative growth rate of industrial value added above designated size realized the first positive return in the year, the cumulative growth rate of goods exports also realized the first positive return in the year, and the cumulative growth rate of fixed asset investment approached positive; in August; The monthly growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods also turned positive for the first time this year.
Overall, positive changes are increasing.
On the 15th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the operation of the national economy in August 2020.
At the meeting, a reporter asked: The main economic indicators continued to rise in August, showing a stable recovery. What are the reasons?
How to evaluate the current economic performance?
Fu Linghui said that in detail, the main characteristics of the economic operation in August are as follows:
First, consumption and investment continue to improve.
From the perspective of consumption, as the epidemic prevention and control has achieved results, residents’ out-going consumption activities have increased. In August, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 0.5% year-on-year, after a decrease of 1.1% last month.
Among them, the retail sales of goods increased by 1.5% and 0.2% last month, 1.3 percentage points faster than last month.
From the perspective of investment, all regions and departments have increased their investment efforts, and the guarantee of funds and related elements has been effectively strengthened.
In the first eight months, fixed asset investment fell by 0.3% year-on-year, and the rate of decline narrowed by 1.3 percentage points from January to July.
Second, the recovery of industry and service industries is accelerating.
From the perspective of the industrial situation, the improvement in demand is increasing the driving force of the industry. In August, the value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.6% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous month.
Last month, it was planned that the industrial added value increased by 4.8%, and the growth rate was the same as in June.
Now, industrial growth is accelerating and recovering.
From the perspective of the service industry, with the recovery of production and the increase in household consumption, the related producer service industry and life service industry are improving.
The service industry production index increased by 4% in August, and the growth rate was 0.5% faster than the previous month.
Third, employment prices remain generally stable.
Various localities have further tried every means to expand employment, and the employment situation has maintained a positive trend.
From January to August, there were 7.81 million new jobs in urban areas, completing 86.8% of the annual target.
From the urban surveyed unemployment rate, the urban surveyed unemployment rate in August was 5.6%, a decrease of 0.1% from the previous month.
From the perspective of the main groups of employed persons, the urban surveyed unemployment rate of the 25-59 year old employed population in August was 4.8%, a decrease of 0.2% from the previous month.
Judging from the price situation, the effect of price protection and supply stabilization continued to show. In August, consumer prices rose 2.4% year-on-year, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous month, and maintained a moderate upward trend overall.
Fourth, the growth of foreign trade and foreign investment was better than expected.
The total value of imports and exports in August increased by 6% year-on-year, of which exports increased by 11.6%, all of which continued to improve.
In terms of foreign capital, the actual use of foreign capital in August increased by 18.7% year-on-year, which is still accelerating from the previous month.
Fifth, the new momentum of economic growth is increasing.
Among industries above designated size in August, high-tech manufacturing increased by 7.6% year-on-year, which was significantly faster than the growth of industries above designated size.
From January to August, investment in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 8.8%, continuing to maintain a rapid growth trend.
At the same time, some new products maintained rapid growth, such as service robots and smart watches, and their output increased by more than 70% that month.
In addition, the output of industrial robots and new energy vehicles increased by more than 30% that month.
Sixth, the vitality of market entities is increasing.
Judging from the profit of industrial enterprises above designated size in the first 7 months, the profit of industrial enterprises above designated size in the first 7 months fell by 8.1% year-on-year, and the decline was narrower than that in the first six months.
Judging from the situation of the current month, the planned industrial profit increased by 19.6% in July, which is a relatively fast growth.
Under the conditions of improving corporate efficiency, corporate market expectations are also improving. In August, the manufacturing PMI was 51%, and the non-manufacturing business activity index was 55.2%, which was above the threshold for six consecutive months.
These circumstances show that the overall economic operation in August continued to improve.
In addition, Fu Linghui pointed out that the current changes in economic operations are mainly restorative growth. Compared with the same period last year, the growth rate of most major indicators is lower than the same period last year. The cumulative growth rate of some indicators is still declining. Interval.
In addition, the international environment is complex and severe, the external epidemic is spreading, the imported prevention and control pressure is relatively large, the major economies are in recession, and there are still many external uncertainties.
From a domestic perspective, the long-term accumulated structural contradictions are still more prominent, the imbalance in the process of economic recovery is more obvious, and the pressure to maintain employment and stabilize enterprises is still relatively high.
Fu Linghui pointed out that in the next stage, we must adhere to the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, continue to adhere to the general tone of work of seeking progress while maintaining stability, adhere to high-quality development, and focus on supply-side structural reforms. The work of “six guarantees” and “six stability” will promote sustained economic recovery and strive to accomplish the goals and tasks for the year.