China's GDP expands 5% in 2024

China's GDP grew 5 percent year-on-year to 134.9 trillion yuan ($18.41 trillion) in 2024, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday. The positive expansion is in line with the country's annual growth target, demonstrating that the world's second-largest economy has successfully navigated turbulent waters last year and maintained its good growth momentum, analysts said. 

In the fourth quarter, China's GDP expanded 5.4 percent year-on-year, NBS data showed. 

The reading in the fourth quarter accelerated from the 4.6-percent growth recorded in the third quarter and also represented the highest quarterly growth of the year. Chinese economists said that was partly driven by the manifestation of a package of incremental policies that have effectively shored up domestic consumption and lifted up market expectation. China's GDP grew by 5.3 percent and 4.7 percent in the first and second quarter of 2024, respectively. 

Chinese economy has achieved a relatively stable growth last year despite immense pressure ranging from a complex global environment, insufficient domestic demand to rising geopolitical uncertainties, which is not an easy task, Tian Yun, an economist based in Beijing, told the Global Times.

He added that while tackling with those downward pressures, China has gradually established a mechanism for endogenous and innovative growth, which is propelled by industries involving new quality productive forces such as artificial intelligence. 

In 2024, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.8 percent year-on-year, while fixed-asset investment also edging up by 3.2 percent, according to NBS. 

In terms of domestic consumption, the retail sales of consumer goods in the first three quarters were up 3.5 percent, NBS data showed.

"Chinese policymakers have introduced a series of incremental policies since September, and key economic indicators have gradually stabilized after several months of adjustments. Following that, more measures have been launched intensively at the beginning of 2025, and the continuity of these policies has positive significance for boosting market confidence and promoting high-quality economic development," Yao Jingyuan, a special researcher of the Counselors' Office of the State Council, told the Global Times. 

Chinese analysts noted that the slew of measures are targeted to address key structural contradictions of the economy, such as shoring up domestic demand with trade-in programs, driving up various investment initiatives and stabilizing property market downturn. 

The effective implementation of macro-policy support is one of the important foundations to achieve China's annual economic growth target, Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times.