China claims economy off to a good start this year

Due to initiatives to expand domestic demand and strengthen supply-side reform, efforts have been made to help the world's second largest economy run smoothly, according to an article in the government's official website.

“Under the context of the New Normal, the nation's economic growth mainly depends on consumption. In the first four months, total volume of retail sales increased 10.3 per cent year on year, and contribution rate of consumption rose 22 per cent compared with the same period in 2015,” it said.

Amid structural transformation, the service industry became the largest in the country. Service industry production index witnessed an 8.3 per cent year-on-year growth in April.

In the first quarter, the tertiary industry increased 7.6 per cent, 1.8 percentage points faster than the secondary industry. Accounting for 56.9 per cent of GDP, the contribution rate of tertiary industry to economic growth reached 63.5 per cent, 29.3 percentage points higher than the secondary industry.

Furthermore, tax revenue from the service industry grew 12 per cent and accounted for 56.5 percent of all tax revenue.

“Reform initiatives, including streamlining administration and delegating power to lower-level governments, optimizing administrative services, investment approval and business systems reform, value-added tax reform, and supply-side reform, are working together to inject dynamism into the market,” it said.

From January to April, the number of newly registered enterprises reached 1.57 million, a 27.5 per cent year-on-year growth. Nearly 13,000 enterprises were registered each day over the past four months.

Supply-side reform efforts to address overcapacity, reduce inventory, deleverage and lower costs have been paying off, too, the government claimed. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India