The State Council Information Office held a press conference and Ning Jizheng, the director of the National Bureau of Statistics, answered reporters’ questions.
Editor’s note: This article comes from China Real Estate , editor: Cui Ruiting , Reproduced with permission
At 10 am on January 17, the State Council Information Office held a press conference and asked the director of the National Bureau of Statistics Ning Jizhen to introduce the state of the national economy in 2019 and answer questions from reporters.
Reporter from Reuters: I saw in the materials that last year China ’s GDP growth fell from 6.4% in the first quarter to 6% in the fourth quarter. What measures will the Chinese government take to stop this slowdown in economic growth? trend? What are your expectations for GDP growth this year? Another issue is the recent trade agreement between China and the United States. It is reported that many tariffs imposed by the United States have not been cancelled, at least until the end of this year’s US elections. In your opinion, these U.S. tariffs will affect China’s economy this year. What impact will growth have? Thank you.
Ning Jizhen, director of the National Bureau of Statistics: Quarterly fluctuations in GDP are normal. If you observe the GDP data released by countries around the world, the quarterly fluctuations may be even larger. To measure GDP growth, you can use not only year-on-year and quarter-on-month, but also quarter-on-year annualized rates. These are different methods in the field of statistics. The GDP growth rate you mentioned uses a year-on-year method, so you see an increase of 6.4% in the first quarter, 6.2% in the second quarter, and 6.0% in the third and fourth quarters. It should be said that this is normal. At the same time, there is indeed downward pressure on the Chinese economy. Looking at the past few years, in the face of this pressure, the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to “stable stability”, that is, to stabilize employment, stabilize finance, stabilize foreign trade, stabilize foreign investment, stabilize investment, and stabilize expectations. In the past year, the “stable stability” Obvious results have been achieved. The annual GDP growth rate of 6.1%, the fastest growth rate among the world’s economies above 1 trillion US dollars, is remarkable. Moreover, China’s economy has been shifting from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. We are not deliberately pursuing economic growth, but we are pursuing a reasonable growth rate with quality and efficiency.
As for the economic growth in 2020, because China ’s economic stability and long-term trend have not changed, although we are still facing downward pressure on the economy, we will take further measures. In accordance with the spirit of China’s Central Economic Work Conference, all regions and departments will actively promote the implementation of various policies and measures, especially the active development of China’s 120 million market players, and will jointly promote the realization of quality and profitable growth. This year’s steady economic growth can be expected.
You are concerned that the economic and trade agreement in the first stage of the China-US trade negotiations has been reached. This is the result of an equal negotiation and an equal and mutually beneficial agreement. It is not only expected to improve China ’s economic development, but also to improve the United StatesAnd the expectations of economic development around the world are very good. Judging from the response of the global capital market in the recent period, and from the analysis and forecast of major international economic organizations, this can be reached. Maybe you also noticed that the IMF has raised the forecast value of China’s economic growth in 2020 by another 0.2 percentage points.
The issue of customs that you care about, it should be said that after October, both sides have adopted some measures for tariff exemption and tariff elimination, and proceeded in the opposite direction to keep the economic and trade between the two sides proceeding normally. We will also implement the first phase of the economic and trade agreement in accordance with the consensus of the two sides. This will definitely deepen the economic and trade cooperation between China and the United States, the economic and trade development of China and other countries in the world, and the stable development of global economic trade. Thank you.