China has released its economic numbers for the third quarter. They are important barometers telling how the world's second largest economy has been doing. CCTV's Jin Yingqiao joins us in the studio with the numbers. Yingqiao, good evening.
Q1, Did the economic performance meet expectations?
A1 Well, it's pretty much in line with expectations of the market and the number is steady from the previous quarter. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in the third quarter, China's economy grew by 6.7 percent from the same period last year. The country earlier set up a target of a 6.5 to 7 percent rate of growth for the whole year of 2016, so the third quarter fits right in this goal. The brightest spot was the performance of industries. Industrial profits grew 6 percent year on year in the third quarter, and profits grew at a speed faster than the first half. Commodities prices rebounded and the producer price index returned from negative to positive growth. And there's also this pick up in real estate sales, which helped shore up demands for industries.
Q2, And what were some of the new momentums in economic activities?
A2, Right, the economy continues to transition itself. The service sector is taking a larger share now. In the first three quarters, the service sector rose 1.6 percentage points to take up 52.8 percent of the total GDP . Consumer spending contributed to 71 percent of growth, that's 13 percentage points higher compared to last year. Experts say the consumer sector is now one of the most powerful growth engines. You can see good numbers in sectors like elderly care, healthcare, and tourism. And what's helping drive consumption? Rising wages. Year on year, average disposable income grew 8.4 percent. Also China has been keen on clearing out housing inventory. The National Bureau of Statistics said by the end of September, homes available for sale decreased by 18 million square meters in terms of floor space compared to June. So this is a step in that direction.
