(Economic Observation) China's GDP rebounded across the board in the first quarter, Hubei strongly counterattacked
China News Agency, Beijing, April 25 (Reporter Wang Enbo) The first quarterly report of the Chinese economy released not long ago showed that China's GDP in the first quarter increased by 18.3% year-on-year, and the national economy had a steady start.
Recently, the economic performance of the first quarter of each region has also been announced: the 28 provinces that have announced their GDP growth rates have achieved double-digit growth without exception; Hubei, which has negative growth for the whole year, completed a strong counterattack last year, with a growth rate of close to 60%.
The picture shows workers working on the construction site of a bridge in Quanzhou, Fujian in mid-March.
(Information picture) Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
A reporter from China News Service checked the data of various local statistical bureaus and found that as of 15:00 on the 25th, a total of 27 provinces announced their economic performance in the first quarter.
In addition, the Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee revealed the province’s GDP growth rate in the first quarter at a meeting.
On the whole, the economies of all regions in the first quarter achieved a "good start", and the growth rate of 8 provinces "outperformed" the whole country.
Specifically, Hubei, which was hardest hit by the new crown pneumonia epidemic last year, rebounded strongly. Its economic growth rate reached 58.3% in the first quarter, ranking first in the country without any suspense. Hainan and Zhejiang followed closely with growth of 19.8% and 19.5% respectively. .
Other provinces that “outperformed” the national growth rate: Jiangsu increased by 19.2%, Anhui increased by 18.7%, Guangdong increased by 18.6%, and Chongqing and Jiangxi increased by 18.4%.
At the other end of the list, there were four regions whose GDP growth rate failed to reach 15% in the first quarter: Heilongjiang (12.4%), Qinghai (12.8%), Liaoning (12.9%), and Gansu (13.2%).
In terms of total GDP, the pattern of Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong occupying the top three remains unchanged.
In the first quarter, the GDP of Guangdong Province was 2,711.796 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 18.6% year-on-year, and an average growth rate of 5.2% in two years; Jiangsu Province achieved a GDP of 2,587,838 million yuan, an increase of 19.2% year-on-year, with a two-year average An increase of 6.4%.
Guangdong and Jiangsu are also the only two provinces with a total GDP exceeding 2 trillion yuan in the first quarter.
Shandong, ranked third, had a regional GDP of 1805.55 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 18.0% year-on-year, and an average growth of 5.4% in two years.
Shandong, together with Henan (1.330665 billion yuan), Sichuan (1.185.924 billion yuan), Fujian (1,075.06 billion yuan), and Hunan (1,022.399 billion yuan), became the five members of the "1 trillion yuan club" with total GDP in the first quarter.
The GDP data for the first quarter is eye-catching, reflecting the steady recovery of local economies.
However, under the special background of the epidemic, all localities are still sober, and some have poured "cold water" on themselves.
"Hubei's economy is off to a good start this year, and it has surpassed the acceleration of economic recovery." According to analysis by Ye Fusheng, chief statistician of the Hubei Provincial Statistics Bureau, this aspect was affected by factors such as the low base in the same period last year and the increase in working days during the Chinese New Year. On the one hand, it is a manifestation of economic recovery and development, which is the result of the combined effect of economic factors, policy factors and base effects.
Lu Wanming, deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Statistics, also explained that at the beginning of last year, China was severely impacted by the epidemic. During the epidemic, the degree of economic resumption and production and market resumption varies from place to place, resulting in a certain base factor in the GDP accounting for the first quarter of this year.
Looking at the economic operation from the cumulative or average growth rate in two years, we can grasp the trend of economic development more objectively and accurately.
Sichuan's GDP growth rate reached 15.8% in the first quarter, but it was still 2.5 percentage points lower than the national level.
Xiong Jianzhong, a spokesman for the Sichuan Provincial Statistics Bureau, said bluntly that the province's low degree of economic outward orientation is one of the reasons.
At this stage, Sichuan’s economic outward orientation has basically reached 16%, while the national average has exceeded 30%.
In addition, the structure of Sichuan's external demand and production structure are not completely symmetrical, and the expansion of external demand has limited stimulus to Sichuan's industry.
If it is said that when observing the economic operation of various regions, we should remain calm about the GDP figures, then the gradual increase in the activity of market entities is another powerful footnote to the momentum of economic recovery.
For example, Yang Xinhong, director of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics, revealed that in the first quarter, the province's enterprises paid more than 500 billion yuan in wages to employees, accounting for about 20% of the province's 2.7 trillion GDP.
"These wages are paid to employees, employment will be stable, and the first guarantee of'six guarantees' and'six stability' will be realized. Enterprises can make money and guarantee market entities are also reflected."
In Hainan, which ranked second in GDP growth in the first quarter in the country, data from the Provincial Market Supervision Administration showed that in the first quarter of this year, Hainan added 70,000 market entities, an increase of 90% compared to the same period last year.
Among them, the new increase in a single month in March alone is basically comparable to that in the entire first quarter of last year.
A monthly survey conducted by Standard Chartered Bank of more than 500 SMEs across the country also showed that, driven by strong demand and production acceleration, the Standard Chartered China SME Confidence Index rose to 55.6 in April from 53.6 in March and 52.5 in the first quarter. .
Among the sub-indices, the "expectations for the next three months" index improved from 55.7 in the previous month to 56.8, reflecting that the operating conditions in the second quarter may be better than those in the first quarter.
(Finish)