China remains important engine for world economic growth: FM spokesperson

BEIJING, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- China's economy continues to recover with rebound generally on a sound track, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Wednesday, noting that China remains an important engine for world economic growth.

Wang made the remarks at a regular press briefing in response to a few Western politicians and media's worries on China's economic slowdown, which they claimed may pose risks to global economic growth.

For the first half of this year, China's GDP grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year, visibly faster than the three-percent growth rate last year, higher than the average annual growth rate of 4.5 percent over the three years under COVID-19, according to Wang.

According to the IMF World Economic Outlook updated last month, China's economy is expected to grow by 5.2 percent and account for one third of global growth this year, the spokesperson said.

China's high-quality economic development has made solid progress with bright spots both in the quality and quantity of growth, Wang said, adding that consumption plays a significantly stronger role in driving growth.

In the first half of this year, domestic demand accounted for 110.8 percent of economic growth, 59.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Of this, contribution from final consumption amounted to 77.2 percent, up by 46.4 percentage points, the spokesperson said.

Industrial structure continued to upgrade. Between January and July, investment in high-tech industries increased by 11.5 percent year-on-year, and investment in scientific research and technology services industries was up 23.1 percent year-on-year.

Wang said in the first half of this year, the combined export of electric cars, lithium batteries and solar panels increased by 61.6 percent year-on-year, demonstrating the strong resilience of China's foreign trade.

Despite the contracted foreign demand, China's export has maintained a generally stable global market share in the first seven months of this year. Over the first half of the year, China added 78.42 gigawatt in installed PV capacity, over half of the total newly installed power capacity nationwide, according to Wang.

Noting that the sluggish world economic recovery, combined with unabated inflation, financial turbulence and rising debt pressure, poses significant economic challenges for all countries, Wang said China's post-COVID-19 economic recovery is characterized by undulating progress sometimes with twists and turns.

"Challenges are to be expected. We never shy away from them. Instead, we respond to them head-on. The results of our response are already showing or beginning to show," Wang said.

Lately, China has rolled out a host of targeted and substantive measures aimed at promoting consumption, boosting the private sector, and attracting foreign investment, which have been applauded by domestic and foreign investors, he said.

The Chinese economy enjoys strong resilience, ample potential and robust dynamism and the fundamentals sustaining China's sound economic growth in the long run remain unchanged, Wang said.

"We have the confidence, the conditions and the ability to meet the economic and social development targets set for 2023 with high quality, open up broader prospects for China's economy, and remain a source of strength for world economic recovery and growth," Wang added.