Growth stable, living standards rise
China has made improvements in three areas: stabilizing growth, optimizing the economic structure and raising living standards, the State Council, China's cabinet, said in a series of articles on Monday.
The operation of the national economy has remained stable overall and achieved steady progress in the first four months of this year, given the complicated global and domestic contexts, according to one of the articles published Monday on the government's website.
During the January-April period, the domestic economy operated in a reasonable range supported by stable economic indicators, said the first article.
Industrial added value increased 5.4 percent in the first two months, 6.8 percent in March and 6 percent in April, it said. Meanwhile, fixed-assets investment rose 10.2 percent in the first two months, 10.7 percent in March and 10.5 percent in April.
Amid an economic downturn in recent years, the government has followed a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy to keep domestic economic growth in a reasonable range, said the government article.
Government revenues saw stable growth from January to April, with revenue up 8.6 percent on a yearly basis.
M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, rose 12.8 percent year-on-year to 144.52 trillion yuan ($22.16 billion) as of the end of April.
As China's economic development has gradually followed a new normal pattern, the government has stepped up efforts to adjust and optimize the economic structure, and some preliminary outcomes can be seen, said a separate article.
Retail sales increased 10.3 percent year-on-year in the first four months. Consumer spending contributed 84.7 percent of economic growth in the first quarter, up 22 percentage points from a year earlier, said the second article.
During the transformation of the industrial structure, the services sector has become the largest industry in the country, with added value up 7.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.
Emerging sectors also reported strong growth during the first four months. For instance, e-commerce increased 27.5 percent year-on-year.
The government also made efforts to improve living standard. The Consumer Price Index rose 2.3 percent year-on-year in April, noted the third article.
According to a report from People's Daily on May 9, China's economic performance is within expectations, but improvements are also needed.
