Speaker:
Liu Aihua, director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics and spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
Chairperson:
Hu Kaihong, spokesperson of the State Council Information Office
Date:
May 15, 2020
Hu Kaihong:
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Welcome to this press conference held by the State Council Information Office. Today, we have invited Liu Aihua, director general of the Department of Comprehensive Statistics and spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), to brief you on the national economic performance in April. She will also take your questions. Now, I give the floor to Ms. Liu.
Liu Aihua:
The country's economic performance continued to improve with major indicators manifesting positive changes in April. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, the whole nation coordinated efforts to advance the work both of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development. The positive momentum of domestic epidemic prevention and control was further consolidated and the resumption of work, production and market activities advanced steadily. Production demand improved gradually, basic industries provided strong support, and market expectations were generally stable. New driving forces appeared among the trends, and the economy showed more vitality. Major economic indicators show a sustained improving situation from March.
First, industrial production shifted from decline to growth and the growth rate of manufacturing rebounded noticeably.
The total added value of industrial enterprises above designated size, which dropped 1.1% in March, grew 3.9% year on year in April, or up 2.27% month on month. In the first four months of this year, the total added value of industrial enterprises above designated size fell 4.9% year on year, which was 3.5 percentage points lower than the decline seen in the first quarter. An analysis by types of ownership showed that, in April, the added value of state holding enterprises went up by 0.5%; share-holding enterprises by 4.0%; enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan by 3.9%; and private enterprises by 7.0%. In sectoral terms, the added value of mining enterprises increased 0.3% year on year; that of manufacturing, which declined 1.8% in March, grew 5.0%; the production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water grew 0.2%. High-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing witnessed fast growth. In April, the added value of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing grew 10.5% and 9.3% respectively, 6.6 percentage points and 5.4 percentage points respectively higher than industrial enterprises above designated size. Specifically, the production of cables, excavators and shoveling machinery, integrated circuits, industrial robots and micro-computers grew 43.8%, 40.8%, 29.2%, 26.6% and 26.2% respectively.
Second, the decline of the service sector narrowed and the modern service industry showed good growth.
In April, the Index of Services Production dropped 4.5% year on year, 4.6 percentage points lower than in March. In the first four months, the Index of Services Production declined 9.9% year on year, 1.8 percentage points less than in the first quarter. Specifically, in April, information transmission, software and information technology services, financial services and real estate grew 5.2%, 4.4% and 1.1% year on year respectively; transportation, storage and post, wholesale and retail trades, and accommodation, restaurant and food service declined 5.0%, 6.6% and 33.7% respectively, which was actually a narrowing decline of 9.7 percentage points, 8.1 percentage points and 15.4 percentage points compared with that in March respectively. In the first quarter, business revenue of service enterprises above designated size dropped 11.5% year on year, of which that of information transmission, software and information technology services grew 4.0%. In April, the Business Activity Index for services was 52.1%, 0.3 percentage point higher than in March. Business activities for the majority of sectors were restored steadily. Among 21 sectors surveyed, there were 14 registering on the Business Activity Index at above 50.0%. The New Orders Index for services reached 51.9%, 2.6 percentage points higher than in March; the Business Activity Expectation Index stood at 59.2%, 2.4 percentage points higher than in March.
Third, market sales picked up and the proportion of online retail sales of physical goods continued to grow.
In April, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 2.8178 trillion yuan ($396.84 billion), a year-on-year decline of 7.5%, which was 8.3 percentage points less than in March, or a month-on-month growth of 0.32%. In the first four months, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 10.6758 trillion yuan, down 16.2% year on year, a narrower decline of 2.8 percentage points compared with the first quarter. Analyzed by different areas, in April, the retail sales in urban areas reached 2.4558 trillion yuan, down 7.5% year on year, and that in rural areas stood at 362 billion yuan, down 7.7%. Grouped by consumption patterns, the revenue of restaurant and food service was 230.7 billion yuan, down 31.1%; and the retail sales of goods were 2.5871 trillion yuan, down 4.6%. The retail sales of goods for basic living grew fast. Among the retail sales by businesses above designated size, that of grain, oil and food and that of beverages grew 18.2% and 12.9% respectively. Sales of upgraded consumer goods improved in April. Telecommunications equipment and cultural and office appliances rose 12.2% and 6.5% respectively, 5.7 percentage points and 0.4 percentage point respectively higher than in March. Online retail sales were active. National online retail sales in the first four months reached 3.0698 trillion yuan, up 1.7% year on year, while that in the first quarter dropped 0.8%. Of the total, the online retail sales of physical goods grew 8.6%, 2.7 percentage points higher than in the first quarter. And it accounted for 24.1% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, which was 0.5 percentage point higher than in the first quarter.
Fourth, investment in fixed assets improved and the decline of investment in high-tech industries narrowed significantly.
In the first four months, investment in fixed assets nationwide (excluding rural households) was 13.6824 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 10.3%, which was narrowed by 5.8 percentage points compared with that in the first quarter; the month-on-month growth in April was 6.19%. Specifically, investment in infrastructure was down by 11.8% year on year, that in manufacturing fell by 18.8% and that in real estate development was down by 3.3%; however, these declines were narrowed by 7.9 percentage points, 6.4 percentage points and 4.4 percentage points respectively compared to the first quarter. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 339.73 million square meters, down by 19.3%, and the total sales of commercial buildings reached 3.1863 trillion yuan, down by 18.6%; these figures were 7.0 percentage points and 6.1 percentage points slower than the decline in the first quarter. Investment in the primary industry went down by 5.4% year on year; that in the secondary industry down by 16.0%; that in the tertiary industry fell by 7.8%. The decline was narrowed by 8.4 percentage points, 5.9 percentage points and 5.7 percentage points respectively compared with the fall in the first quarter. Investment in high-tech industries went down by 3.0%, 7.3 percentage points slower than the decline of the total investment and 9.1 percentage points slower than the decline seen in the first quarter, of which investment in high-tech manufacturing industries and high-tech service industries went down by 3.6% and 1.7% respectively. In terms of high-tech manufacturing, investment in manufacturing of computers and office devices grew by 15.4%. In terms of high-tech services, investment in services for commercialization of scientific and technological research findings, e-commerce services and professional technical services grew by 28.0%, 25.6% and 12.5% respectively. Investment in social sectors fell by 3.1%, which was 5.7 percentage points less than the decrease in the first quarter. Specifically, the year-on-year growth of investment in health sector and education sector shifted from negative to positive, standing at 4.7% and 2.9% respectively.
