Data tell China's economic story in Jan-Sept

China achieved solid year-on-year GDP growth of 6.9 percent in the first three quarters, putting it in a position to comfortably achieve its whole-year target of around 6.5 percent.

Growth was 6.8 percent in the third quarter, compared with 6.9 percent in both first and second quarters, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. China has kept its growth within the 6.7 to 6.9 percent range for nine consecutive quarters.

According to the NBS, China has also made progress in advancing its supply-side structural reform, with corporate debt levels and costs, for example, reduced year-on-year in the first three quarters.

The quality of growth has significantly improved, with residential income and corporate profits both registering higher year-on-year growth, the NBS reveals.

China has attached more importance to the quality of growth in recent years.

1GDP expands 6.9%

GDP expanded 6.9 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2017 to reach 59.33 trillion yuan ($8.96 trillion), as data released by NBS showed.

Specifically, the value added by primary industries was 4.1229 trillion yuan, up by 3.7 percent year-on-year; that of secondary industries was 23.8109 trillion yuan, up by 6.3 percent; and value of tertiary industries was 31.3951 trillion yuan, up by 7.8 percent.

2CPI up 1.5%

China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.5 percent on average from January to September this year according to the NBS, lower than the government goal of 3 percent for the whole year.

And the figure in September stood at 1.6 percent year-on-year, mildly retreating from 1.8 percent in August, and still faster than July's 1.4 percent. It was the eighth straight month for CPI to stay beneath the 2-percent mark.

On a monthly basis, the index went up 0.5 percent, slightly higher than the 0.4 percent seen in the previous month.

3PPI climbs 6.5%

For the first three quarters of the year, China's producer price index, measuring costs for goods at the factory gate, climbed 6.5 percent from a year earlier, according to NBS data.

The September index rose 6.9 percent year-on-year, compared with 6.3 percent registered in August and market forecasts of 6.4 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, the index was up one percent from the previous month.

4PMI at 52.4 in September

The purchasing managers' index, or PMI, stood at 52.4 in September, up from August's 51.7 and hitting the highest level since May 2012, as NBS data showed.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

5Industrial output grows 6.7%

China's value-added industrial output expanded 6.7 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2017, up 0.7 percentage point compared with the same period of 2016 and flat with that of the first eight months, according to NBS.

In September, industrial output rose 6.6 percent year-on-year.

Industrial output is meant to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with annual turnover of at least 20 million yuan.

6Fixed-asset investment jumps 7.5%

China's fixed-asset investment continued to ease in the first nine months of the year, with a 7.5 percent increase, cooling from 7.8 percent for January-August and 8.2 percent in the same period last year, data from NBS showed.

It marked a growth deceleration for six consecutive months.

Infrastructure investment, which accounts for more than 20 percent of total FAI, surged 19.8 percent year-on-year during the period, while high-tech manufacturing saw investment up by 18.4 percent.

7Retail sales up 10.4%

China's retail sales of consumer goods grew by 10.4 percent year-on-year to 26.32 trillion yuan from January to September — unchanged from a year ago, according to NBS.

NBS attributed the growth partly to booming online sales, which surged 34.2 percent year-on- year, 8.1 percentage points faster than the same period last year.

Retail sales in rural areas in the same time rose 12.1 percent, outpacing the 10.1 percent expansion for urban areas.

8Imports & exports grow 16.6%

China's foreign trade volume jumped by an average of 16.6 percent year-on-year to 20.29 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of 2017, according to customs data.

From January to September, exports in yuan-denominated terms surged 12.4 percent year-on-year to 11.16 trillion yuan, while imports rose up to 9.13 trillion yuan, increasing by 22.3 percent.

In September, China's total imports and exports rose 13.6 percent to 2.46 trillion yuan, with exports up 9 percent and imports up 19.5 percent. And trade surplus shrank 28 percent to 193 billion yuan.

9FDI edges up and ODI slumps

In the first nine months, foreign direct investment into China edged up 1.6 percent, compared with a 41.9 percent drop in China's non-financial outbound direct investment, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

FDI in the manufacturing sector bounced back, with investment of 181.76 billion yuan, growing 7.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total FDI. Meanwhile, high-tech manufacturing and service industries maintained growth momentum.

Chinese companies invested a total of $78 billion in 5,159 enterprises from 154 countries and regions during the period from January to September, mainly involving areas like leasing and commercial services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and information technology.

No new projects were reported in property, sport and entertainment, where the government has been seeking to limit investment.

10New yuan lending extending

China's new yuan-denominated lending from January to September hit 11.16 trillion yuan, a 998 billion yuan increase from the same period last year, central bank data showed.

And the figure in September came to reach 1.27 trillion yuan, up from 1.09 trillion yuan in August.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, at the end of September rose 9.2 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from 8.9 percent recorded in August.

11Fiscal revenue up 9.7%

Fiscal revenue rose 9.7 percent year-on-year to 13.41 trillion yuan in the first nine months, the Ministry of Finance said.

In the same period, fiscal expenditures rose 11.4 percent to 15.19 trillion yuan, with central and local governments implementing the budget expenditure faster than the same period last year.

In September, fiscal revenue presented a 9.2 percent growth, reaching 1.27 trillion yuan, while expenditures increased 1.7 percent.

12Disposable income grows faster than GDP

China's average per capita disposable income grew 9.1 percent year-on-year to 19,342 yuan in the first three quarters of the year, data from NBS showed.

After deducting inflation, the real growth was 7.5 percent, exceeding the country's GDP growth of 6.9 percent for January-September.

Breakdown figures showed that urban residents' per capital real disposable income grew 7.5 percent to 9,778 yuan, and that of urban residents went up to 27,430 yuan, up 6.6 percent after deducting price factors.

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