How to View the Growth Rate of 6.9 Percent
By staff reporter CHEN JUN
“Seen against the backdrop of the economic performances of international economies, China's 6.9 percent growth in 2015 is outstanding, and the Chinese economy is also qualitatively expanding," spokesperson for the fourth session of the 12th National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Wang Guoqing said at a press conference before the annual session.
Then how should we view the 6.9 percent growth rate?
China and the U.S. are the two countries that achieved a GDP of above US $10 trillion last year, but China’s growth rate was more than twice that of the U.S. In spite of feeble global economic recovery and pressure as a result of the domestic economic downturn, China attained its set target, which was no easy task, Chief of the State Council’s Research Office Xiang Dong said.
Xu Xianchun, vice director of National Bureau of Statistics, remarked that China’s 6.9 percent growth has played an important role in achieving stable employment, and also contributed significantly to world economic growth.
In 2015, newly employed people in urban areas numbered 13.12 million, and migrant workers increased 1.3 percent compared with 2014. Commodity prices were stable, and the CPI rose 1.4 percent. There was also a 2.4 percent rise, year-on-year, of total grain output. The above statistics show that although growth slowed in 2015, the economy as a whole still operates within a reasonable range and shows stable growth.
This is no mean achievement, bearing in mind the difficulties China has faced at home and abroad, such as weak global economic recovery, a downturn in international trade, fluctuations in global financial markets, aggravated geopolitical conflicts, certain industries’ overcapacity, and a shrinking international export market.
On a global scale, the growth rate of 6.9 percent is relatively rapid compared to that of other major economies around the world. In 2015, the U.S.’s growth rate was 2.4 percent, Japan’s 0.4 percent, and India’s 7.5 percent. According to the latest IMF statistics, the Eurozone achieved GDP growth of 1.5 percent and South Africa of 1.3 percent, while Russia’s GDP decreased by 3.7 percent and Brazil’s by 3.8 percent.
China thus remained a major driving force of world economic growth in 2015, its contribution to it having exceeded 25 percent.
