In April, the national economy continued to recover to a good situation, and most indicators increased year-on-year
People’s Daily Online, Beijing, May 16 (Reporter Yang Xi) According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in April 2023, China’s economy and society resumed normal operation in an all-round way, most production and demand indicators increased year-on-year, service industry and consumption recovered quickly, employment prices were generally stable, and economic operation continued to recover to a good trend.
Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics and director of the National Economic Statistics Department, said that overall, in April, the national economy continued to recover and the positive factors accumulated. However, we must also see that the international environment is still complicated and severe, domestic demand is still insufficient, and the endogenous driving force for economic recovery is not strong. In the next stage, we should adhere to the general tone of striving for progress while maintaining stability, implement the new development concept completely, accurately and comprehensively, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, comprehensively deepen reform and opening up, combine giving full play to the effectiveness of policies with stimulating the vitality of business entities, actively restore and expand demand, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, promote the effective improvement of quality and reasonable growth of quantity of the economy, and strive to promote high-quality economic development.
The service industry continued to pick up, and the contact-gathering service industry improved significantly.
In April, the national service industry production index increased by 13.5% year-on-year, 4.3 percentage points faster than last month. By industry, the production index of accommodation and catering, wholesale and retail, transportation, warehousing and postal services, information transmission, software and information technology services increased by 48.7%, 18.8%, 17.6% and 13.2% respectively, which was 18.8, 7.9, 5.7 and 1.2 percentage points higher than that of last month. From January to April, the national service industry production index increased by 8.4% year-on-year, 1.7 percentage points faster than that in January-March. From January to March, the operating income of service enterprises above designated size increased by 5.0% year-on-year. In April, the business activity index of service industry was 55.1%, and the expected business activity index was 62.3%. Among them, the business activity index of railway transportation, air transportation, accommodation, telecommunications, radio and television, satellite transmission services, culture, sports and entertainment and other industries was in the high boom zone of more than 60%.
Industrial production is generally stable, and the equipment manufacturing industry is growing rapidly.
In April, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 5.6% year-on-year, 1.7 percentage points faster than last month; The chain decreased by 0.47%. In terms of three categories, the added value of the mining industry was flat year-on-year, with the manufacturing industry increasing by 6.5% and the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industries increasing by 4.8%. The added value of equipment manufacturing industry increased by 13.2% year-on-year, 5.3 percentage points faster than last month. In terms of economic types, the added value of state-owned holding enterprises increased by 6.6% year-on-year; Joint-stock enterprises increased by 4.4%, and foreign-invested enterprises from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan increased by 11.8%. Private enterprises increased by 1.6%. In terms of products, the output of new energy vehicles and solar cell products increased by 85.4% and 69.1% respectively. From January to April, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 3.6% year-on-year, 0.6 percentage points faster than that in January-March. In April, the purchasing manager index of manufacturing industry was 49.2%, and the expected index of enterprise production and operation activities was 54.7%.
Market sales grew rapidly, and online retail sales increased rapidly.
In April, the total retail sales of social consumer goods was 3,491 billion yuan, up 18.4% year-on-year, 7.8 percentage points faster than last month; The chain increased by 0.49%. According to the location of business units, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 3,039.8 billion yuan, up 18.6% year-on-year; The retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 451.3 billion yuan, up by 17.3%. By consumption type, the retail sales of commodities reached 3,115.9 billion yuan, up by 15.9%; The catering revenue was 375.1 billion yuan, an increase of 43.8%. The sales of upgraded goods grew rapidly, and the retail sales of gold, silver and jewelry, sports and entertainment goods and cosmetics above designated size increased by 44.7%, 25.7% and 24.3% respectively. From January to April, the total retail sales of social consumer goods was 14,983.3 billion yuan, up 8.5% year-on-year, 2.7 percentage points faster than that in January-March. The national online retail sales reached 4,410.8 billion yuan, up 12.3% year-on-year, 3.7 percentage points faster than that in January-March. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods was 3,716.4 billion yuan, up by 10.4%, accounting for 24.8% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods.
The scale of investment in fixed assets has expanded, and investment in high-tech industries has grown rapidly.
From January to April, the national investment in fixed assets (excluding farmers) was 1,474.82 billion yuan, up 4.7% year-on-year, down 0.4 percentage point from January to March. In terms of fields, infrastructure investment increased by 8.5% year-on-year, manufacturing investment increased by 6.4%, and real estate development investment decreased by 6.2%. The national commercial housing sales area was 376.36 million square meters, down 0.4% year-on-year; The sales of commercial housing reached 3,975 billion yuan, up by 8.8%. By industry, investment in the primary industry increased by 0.3%, investment in the secondary industry increased by 8.4%, and investment in the tertiary industry increased by 3.1%. Private investment increased by 0.4%. Investment in high-tech industries increased by 14.7% year-on-year, of which investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech service industries increased by 15.3% and 13.4% respectively. In the high-tech manufacturing industry, the investment in electronic and communication equipment manufacturing, medical equipment and instrumentation manufacturing increased by 19.9% and 19.4% respectively; In the high-tech service industry, the investment in scientific and technological achievements transformation service industry and professional technical service industry increased by 42.1% and 33.9% respectively. Investment in social fields increased by 5.6%, of which investment in health and education increased by 13.8% and 5.0% respectively. In April, investment in fixed assets (excluding farmers) decreased by 0.64% from the previous month.
The import and export of goods continued to grow and the trade structure continued to be optimized.
In April, the total import and export of goods was 3,434.7 billion yuan, up 8.9% year-on-year. Among them, exports were 2,026.5 billion yuan, an increase of 16.8%; Imports reached 1,408.1 billion yuan, down 0.8%. Import and export balance, with a trade surplus of 618.4 billion yuan. From January to April, the total import and export volume of goods was 13,323.2 billion yuan, up 5.8% year-on-year. Among them, exports reached 7,672.9 billion yuan, up by 10.6%; Imports reached 5,650.3 billion yuan, up by 0.02%. From January to April, the import and export of general trade increased by 8.5% year-on-year, accounting for 65.4% of the total import and export, an increase of 1.6 percentage points over the same period of last year. The import and export of private enterprises increased by 15.8%, accounting for 52.9% of the total import and export, an increase of 4.6 percentage points over the same period of last year. The export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 10.5%, accounting for 57.9% of the total export.
The employment situation is generally stable, and the urban survey unemployment rate has dropped.
In April, the national urban survey unemployment rate was 5.2%, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous month. The unemployment rate of local registered labor force survey is 5.1%; The survey unemployment rate of migrant registered labor force is 5.4%, of which the survey unemployment rate of migrant agricultural registered labor force is 5.1%. The unemployment rate of the 16-24-year-old and 25-59-year-old labor force survey is 20.4% and 4.2% respectively. Among the 25-59-year-old labor force, the survey unemployment rate of junior high school education or below, senior high school education, junior college education and bachelor degree or above is 4.5%, 4.6%, 4.0% and 3.1% respectively. The survey unemployment rate in 31 big cities and towns is 5.5%. The average weekly working hours of employees in enterprises nationwide are 48.8 hours.
Consumer prices rose year-on-year, while industrial producer prices fell year-on-year.
In April, the national consumer price (CPI) rose by 0.1% year-on-year and decreased by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter. By category, the prices of food, tobacco and alcohol increased by 0.8%, clothing by 0.9%, housing by 0.2%, daily necessities and services by 0.1%, transportation and communication by 3.3%, education, culture and entertainment by 1.9%, medical care by 1.0% and other supplies and services by 3.5%. Among the prices of food, tobacco and alcohol, the price of fresh vegetables decreased by 13.5%, the price of grain increased by 1.1%, the price of pork increased by 4.0% and the price of fresh fruit increased by 5.3%. After deducting food and energy prices, the core CPI rose by 0.7% year-on-year, the same as last month. From January to April, the national consumer price rose by 1.0% year-on-year.
In April, the ex-factory price of industrial producers nationwide decreased by 3.6% year-on-year and 0.5% quarter-on-quarter. The purchase price of industrial producers nationwide decreased by 3.8% year-on-year and 0.7% quarter-on-quarter. From January to April, the ex-factory price and purchase price of industrial producers nationwide decreased by 2.1% and 1.5% respectively.