China's economy continued to operate on a generally steady trajectory and saw an innovation-driven and high-quality development in the first half of 2026, said an official on Wednesday.
For the first half of the year, the country's gross domestic product (GDP) reached about 69.6 trillion yuan (about 10.28 trillion U.S. dollars) in output, up by 4.7 percent year on year at constant prices. Compared with the same period last year, the GDP growth stood at 3.6 trillion yuan (about 0.53 trillion U.S. dollars), marking the largest increment for the first half of any year over the past five years, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.
The country's summer grain output exceeded 300 billion jin (about 150 million tons) for the first time this year, further consolidating the foundation of food security while laying a solid groundwork for the year's overall grain production, price stability, and people's livelihood. In the first six months, new growth drivers, represented by high-end manufacturing, the digital economy, and modern services, contributed more than 40 percent to economic growth, highlighting a distinct shift toward a more innovative and higher-quality economy. During the period, the value added of manufacturing accounted for 26.2 percent of the GDP, up by 0.4 percentage points from three years ago. Value added by high-tech manufacturing firms above a designated scale grew by 13.3 percent year on year.
China's artificial intelligence (AI)-powered industries, such as integrated circuit manufacturing and intelligent in-vehicle equipment manufacturing, all posted more than 30 percent growth.
"At present, there have been much complexity and change in the international environment, with the world economy and international trade both growing at slower pace. Most countries also face mounting pressures brought by inflation. Under such circumstances, China's economy still maintained a 4.7 percent-growth in the first half of this year, at the same time, prices saw a moderate rise, employment remained broadly stable, international balance of payment improved, and the new growth drivers in emerging sectors grew and expanded notably faster. China has realized its goal to improve the quality of its economic growth and register a reasonable increase of its economic output," said Mao Shengyong, deputy head of the NBS.
China's economy sees innovation-driven, high-quality development in H1: official
