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China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 12.7 percent year on
year in the first half of 2021 as recovery continues to firm, data from
the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday. The figure puts average H1 growth for the past two years at 5.3
percent, 0.3 percentage points faster than the two-year average of Q1
growth from the 2019 level, according to the NBS. In the second quarter, the country's GDP grew 7.9 percent year on
year, the data showed. On a quarterly basis, the economy expanded 1.3
percent in Q2. Other major economic indicators showed continued improvements across
the board, with industrial output rising 15.9 percent and retail sales
up 23 percent year on year in the first half. The country's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5 percent in
June, 0.7 percentage points lower than the same period last year. A
total of 6.98 million new urban jobs, or 63.5 percent of the annual
target, were created in the first half. In the six-month period, China's per capita disposable income
increased 12.6 percent year on year in nominal terms to 17,642 yuan
(about 2,731 U.S. dollars), basically keeping pace with the GDP
increase. In the first quarter of 2021, the Chinese economy grew 18.3 percent
year on year as strong domestic and foreign demands powered recovery
from a low base in early 2020 when COVID-19 stalled the world's
second-largest economy. "The national economy has, in general, sustained a steady recovery in
the first half," said Liu Aihua, a spokesperson with the NBS. Liu, however, cautioned of uncertainties stemming from the global
spread of the pandemic and the unbalanced recovery domestically. But considering the supply-demand cycle, market confidence and the
increasingly strong domestic demand, China's economy is expected to
maintain the recovery trend in the second half of 2021, Liu added. China has aimed for an economic expansion of over 6 percent in 2021.
It also aims to create more than 11 million new urban jobs and expand
domestic demand and effective investment, which are expected to put the
economy firmly back to pre-pandemic vibrancy. The World Bank, in a report last month, forecast that China's economic growth will be at 8.5 percent in 2021. China's recovery has broadened as its economic activities have
continued to normalize under the country's effective containment of
COVID-19, the report noted. Enditem
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