China's economic growth in the third quarter was driven by strong performance in manufacturing and exports, an expert said, noting that the country should rely less on overseas demand and do more to boost domestic consumption.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 4.5 percent in the third quarter, higher than the second quarter's reading of 4.3 percent. In the first nine months, GDP grew 4.6 percent year on year.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Qu Qiang, a fellow at the Belt and Road Research Center of Minzu University of China, noted that China's economy has maintained steady growth, with performance in high-end manufacturing and exports standing out.
"I think that's a good number. A 4.6-percent GDP growth actually is within the government planning. I think China's economy actually is growing very steadily. I think one very outstanding feature of the data in Q3 is that I think the export and also the manufacturing are very, very strong. So I think from the numbers you can tell actually the industry has been growing really, really fast, especially not only comparing to China itself in the Q1 and Q2, but also comparing to the whole backdrop of the whole world when you know the whole world economy is just sluggish," he said.
"But actually the high technology is growing even faster. There are many stars in this area, like the 3D printing, lithium battery, robots, AI -- they've been growing basically more. So this is actually a very, very outstanding [performance] when you compare to the general atmosphere. And also I think this has been contributing to the world economy and also has been helping a lot with stabilizing the domestic and the job ratio," he said.
Qu also highlighted the gap between growth in manufacturing and exports and the slower performance of domestic consumption and investment, saying it was important to narrow that divide.
"I think the number one thing we need to see is that the new dynamics and also the total GDP growth are still having some gap. On the one hand, they are actually super strong, high technology is very, very strong. But also I think the domestic consumption is recovering, and also the fixed investment has been recovering slower than that. So I think we need to bridge the gap," he said.
The expert added that the country should work to encourage household spending and increase people's incomes, so as to reduce its reliance on exports and build a more diversified economy.
"How can we translate the fast growing manufacturing income and also the fast growing businesses in this area into the ordinary families and the household incomes to improve their livelihoods is also the things we need to work on. And also I think one hand, yes, we do have the strongest exports, but how can we just reduce our reliance on exports and also try to diversify the market," he said.
Manufacturing, exports drive China's economic growth in Q3: expert
