China's economy sustained its overall stable, innovation-driven, and quality-oriented development momentum in May, with steady gains in production and supply, broadly stable employment and prices, resilient foreign trade, and expanding new growth drivers, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.
At a press conference held in Beijing, Fu Linghui, spokesman for the NBS, said that China's industrial production picked up pace in May, led by faster growth in equipment manufacturing and high-tech sectors.
"In May, value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size rose 4.5 percent year on year -- accelerating 0.4 percentage points from April -- and edged up 0.4 percent from the previous month. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) stood at 50.0 percent in May, while the index for production and business activity expectations came in at 53.9 percent," Fu said.
He said that China's service sector also registered steady growth in May.
"The services production index climbed 4.4 percent year on year in May, slightly outpacing April by 0.1 percentage points. Over the January-to-May period, the index posted a 4.8 percent gain from a year earlier," he said.
Foreign trade, meanwhile, grew at a markedly faster pace in May, with continued improvements in the country's trade mix, according to the spokesperson.
"Total goods imports and exports surged to 4.4516 trillion yuan (about 658.47 billion U.S. dollars) in May, up 16.9 percent year on year -- 2.7 percentage points higher than in April. Exports reached 2.5878 trillion yuan (about 382.78 billion U.S. dollars), up 13.8 percent, while imports hit 1.8638 trillion yuan (about 275.69 billion U.S. dollars), jumping 21.5 percent," said Fu.
The global landscape remained rough in May, with the spillover effects of geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East continuing to weigh, while some parts of China were hit by heavy rains and scorching heat, which also dampened market demand and supply.
Yet despite these headwinds, Fu said authorities at all levels in China have doubled down on more proactive and effective macroeconomic policies, pushing back against external shocks and easing domestic frictions, and have succeeded in steering the economy onto a steady course.
"Taken together, the national economy maintained steady growth in May, with its resilience further highlighted. Production and supply gained steady ground, employment and prices remained broadly stable, foreign trade showed renewed resilience, and new growth drivers continued to expand -- sustaining the overall trend of steady, innovation-driven, and quality-oriented development," he said.
China's economy performs steadily in May: official
