China's economy grew 5 percent in the first quarter of 2026, signaling a solid start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and reinforcing the country's role as a stabilizing force in an increasingly volatile global economy, says a China Media Group commentary published on Friday.
An edited English version of the commentary is as follows:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global economic growth forecasts for 2026 to 3.1 percent in the World Economic Outlook report.
Against this backdrop, the world's second-largest economy has generated 33.4 trillion yuan (about 4.87 trillion U.S. dollars) in output during the first quarter, accelerating by 0.5 percentage points from the fourth quarter of 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday. Amid rising geopolitical risks and fluctuations in the global energy market, China has focused on managing its own affairs well, accelerated the development of new quality productive forces, and steadily advanced reform and opening up, injecting strong impetus into economic transformation and upgrading.
This also demonstrates that China's economic fundamentals remain solid and its policies have been effectively implemented, achieving both qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth.
As China's economic aggregate has exceeded 140 trillion yuan, it's truly remarkable for the country to achieve such a growth rate.
China's economy is characterized by stability, innovation and resilience, laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual growth target. In the first quarter, the added value of China's three major industries has all achieved growth.
The consumer price index rose by 0.9 percent, and the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas and the basic situation of employment and people's livelihood remained stable.
Consumption continued to recover, driven by the nine-day Spring Festival holiday and relevant supporting policies.
The total retail sales of consumer goods and services have increased by 2.4 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. Investment has stabilized after halting its decline, growing by 1.7 percent, indicating improvement in the previous imbalance between strong supply and weak demand. This has created favorable conditions for building a strong domestic market.
New growth drivers have taken the lead in China's economy. In the first quarter, the proportion of China's equipment manufacturing and high-tech manufacturing in the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size has increased by 1.4 and 1.2 percentage points, respectively, year on year.
The contribution of high-tech manufacturing to the growth of industrial enterprises above designated size has reached 32.6 percent. China leads the world in the production and sales of new energy vehicles, while high-end, intelligent and green development have become the guiding principle of its manufacturing industry.
In particular, the commercial and large-scale application of artificial intelligence (AI) has achieved a phased breakthrough. By March this year, the average daily volume of token queries exceeded 140 trillion, an increase of more than 40 percent compared to the end of last year. AI is empowering various industries.
Facing mounting pressures in the first quarter, including intensified trade protectionism, volatile situation in the Middle East and rising factor costs, China has effectively hedged against external risks through its super-large market, complete industrial system and strong supporting capabilities, demonstrating remarkable development resilience.
Take foreign trade as an example. China's total import and export volume has exceeded 11 trillion yuan in the first quarter, increasing by 15.0 percent year on year. In particular, imports rose by nearly 20 percent year on year, with a growth rate of 7.7 percentage points higher than that of exports, reaching a new high for the same period in history. Through concrete actions, China has shown that it is not only the world's factory but also willing to serve as a market for the world.
In the first quarter, China witnessed frequent visits from multinational executives, increased international capital investment, and economic performance that exceeded expectations. This has drawn global attention to China's achievements.
The 5-percent growth not only reflects the strong performance in the first quarter, but also signals a solid start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) and China's readiness to share development opportunities with the world.
China's solid Q1 growth serves as stable anchor for global economy amid rising volatility: commentary
