China News Service, Beijing, March 17 (Reporter Wang Enbo) "Accelerating" has become a high-frequency word in China's first economic report card at the beginning of 2025.
The data released by the official on the 17th showed that in the first two months of this year, China's industry, service industry, consumption, investment and other indicators grew faster than the whole year of last year. The National Bureau of Statistics made a judgment: the national economy started smoothly.
Recalling in 2024, China's economy showed a growth curve of "high at the beginning, low at the middle, and high at the end". The steady start is that the economic operation in 2025 continued to rebound since the fourth quarter of last year, and the momentum has not diminished as external adverse effects deepen.
From the production side, new industrialization is steadily advancing, and the pulling effect of macro-policy combination on industry continues to appear. From January to February, China's industrial added value above the designated size increased by 5.9% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage point faster than the whole year of the previous year. Among them, the added value of the equipment manufacturing industry increased by 10.6% year-on-year.
Due to digital transformation and the "blessing" of the Spring Festival holiday economy, the growth of industries related to information technology, tourism and transportation has driven the vigorous development of the service industry. From January to February, the service industry production index increased by 5.6% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points faster than the whole year of the previous year.
All-round expansion of domestic demand has been included in the key tasks of China's economic work this year. As 2025 begins, good news is also coming to the demand side.
The policy of exchanging consumer goods for new products has been strengthened. During the Spring Festival, the tourism, culture and sports market is booming, which has promoted the recovery of market sales and the expansion of service consumption. From January to February, China's total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4% year-on-year, accelerating by 0.5 percentage points over the whole year of the previous year; the transaction volume of tourism service platforms increased by more than 20%. During the same period, with the efforts of infrastructure and manufacturing investment, fixed asset investment increased by 4.1% year-on-year, 0.9 percentage points faster than the whole year of the previous year.
Cai Wei, director of KPMG China Economic Research Institute, told China News Service that localities have increased policy support for consumption of services such as cultural tourism, events, and performing arts economy, and at the same time cultivate special consumption sectors such as the first-generation economy, ice and snow economy, silver economy, and technology consumption. These areas are expected to become new highlights of the expansion of consumer demand this year. Equipment renewal demand and high-tech industries expand production capacity will support manufacturing investment to maintain a high level.
Production has grown steadily and demand has gradually expanded. Many "accelerations" indicate that China's economy continues to recover and improve. This positive change is conducive to improving market expectations and confidence.
Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, gave an example, saying that in the first two months, China's real estate market continued to show a trend of stabilization, and the transaction volume and transaction amount of Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets continued to maintain rapid growth. Business entities expectation to continue to improve. The manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose significantly in February, and the non-manufacturing business activity index continued to be in the prosperous range.
After a steady start, China's economy will achieve the expected growth target of about 5% for the whole year, and there are still many challenges, and expanding effective demand is the key.
The China Consumer Price Index (CPI) in February released not long ago both fell year-on-year and month-on-month. Although there are disturbances during the Spring Festival, it still reminds residents' willingness to consume needs to be boosted.
After the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, policies are accelerating their efforts. The General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council recently issued the "Special Action Plan to Boost Consumption", which will focus on "to increase consumption capacity by increasing income and reducing burdens, create effective demand with high-quality supply, and enhance consumption willingness by optimizing the consumption environment." Various support policies such as investment, finance, credit, and statistics will be improved.
Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank, said that the improvement of policy timing and efficiency is expected to boost domestic demand and hedge external uncertainties such as the imposition of tariffs.
Fu Linghui said that as residents' consumption capacity gradually improves, the pace of consumption upgrading accelerates, and the consumption demand for new consumption such as green numbers, elderly care and childcare services will expand, which will become an important driving force for consumption growth. At the same time, there is huge room for investment in new industrialization, new urbanization, energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation, and there is still a large investment demand in people's livelihood such as basic public services and affordable housing. Making good use of these favorable conditions and promoting the orderly release of domestic demand potential will promote smooth economic circulation. (End)
