China’s business operations progressed steadily and high-quality development made positive progress in 2018, indicating that consumption has become the first driving force for economic growth for five consecutive years, according to data released by the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.
In 2018, total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 38 trillion yuan or $5.64 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 9 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Online retail sales exceeded 9 trillion yuan, an increase of 23.9%.
Consumption continues to be a key driver of economic growth. It accounted for 76.2 percent of GDP in 2018, up 18.6 percentage points compared to the previous year.
In 2018, consumer spending in urban areas rose 6.8 percent. This opposing trend suggests a rapid increase in residents’ service consumption.
China's foreign trade volume reached a record high of 30.51 trillion yuan in 2018, an increase of 9.7 percent year-on-year, official data showed on Monday.
The country's exports rose 7.1 percent to 16.42 trillion yuan while imports surged 12.9 percent to 14.09 trillion yuan last year, said Li Kuiwen, spokesman of the General Administration of Customs.
Trade surplus continued to narrow last year, shrinking 18.3 percent to 2.33 trillion yuan, he said at a press conference.
In 2018, the use of foreign capital surged against the weak global growth, as is evidenced by the annual establishment of more than 60,000 new foreign-funded enterprises, an increase of 69.8% year on year. The actual use of foreign capital hit 886.6 billion yuan, an increase of 0.9%, a striking contrast to the fall of the global cross-border investment by 19%. Among them, investment from developed economies grew rapidly. The investment in China by the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Japan and the United States increased by 150.1%, 79.3%, 24.1%, 13.6% and 7.7% respectively.
In 2018, China reported steady increase in the quality and efficiency of foreign investment with the annual foreign direct investment reaching 129.8 billion US dollars, an increase of 4.2%. Among them, direct investment in the countries along the “Belt and Road” reached US$15.6 billion, an increase of 8.9%. The structure of foreign investment continues to be optimized with major flow into the rental and business services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and mining sectors.
(source:ourjiangsu.com)
