China’s latest official data show that the PMI, non-manufacturing business activity index and composite PMI output index in March this year were 50.8%, 53.0% and 52.7%, up 1.7, 1.6 and 1.8 percentage points from the previous month, all in the expansion range of more than 50%. Manufacturing activity in March expanded for the first time in six months and hit a one-year high. In this regard, foreign media such as Bloomberg said that this shows that the outlook for China’s manufacturing industry is becoming optimistic and the overall economy is stabilizing.
At the Boao Forum for Asia annual Conference recently concluded, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Turkish Ambassador to China Moussa and other international political figures have told the “International Review” that China’s economy will continue to rebound and bring development opportunities for the world economy. The synchronous recovery of the three major indexes confirms the optimistic expectations of the outside world on the Chinese economy, and also shows that the so-called “China’s economic peak theory” in the Western media is simply untenable.
Why is China’s economy doing so well? Analysts pointed out that in addition to the rebound of domestic demand and external demand, it also benefited from the continuous efforts of the Chinese government to stabilize the economy, expand domestic demand and stabilize foreign trade policies. With the improvement of the overall economic situation, especially the resumption of work and production after the Spring Festival holiday, the continued positive trend of the Chinese economy has been more clearly displayed. At present, China has launched a new round of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods for new action, is expected to form an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan huge market. This has further boosted confidence in the Chinese economy.
On a closer look, there are some new features in the data. For example, in March, China’s high-tech manufacturing industry, consumer goods industry, and equipment manufacturing PMI were 53.9%, 51.8% and 51.6%, respectively, which were higher than the previous month. Among them, the high-tech manufacturing production index and new orders index were both higher than 55.0%, reflecting the solid progress of China’s high-quality economic development. On the other hand, the expected index of production and business activities was 55.6%, rising to a higher boom range, indicating that enterprises have increased confidence in the recent development of the Chinese market.
Moreover, the good performance of the production index, new orders index and import and export index in March means that China’s overall environment is getting better and the economy is on the track of healthy development. Analysts pointed out that this also indicates that the GDP growth rate in the first quarter is more optimistic, and has laid a solid foundation for achieving the annual economic growth target of about 5%.
As the world’s second largest economy, a stable and positive Chinese economy is undoubtedly good for the world. Tang Ruis, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in the United States, pointed out that China’s accelerated development of new quality productivity will make a series of innovative achievements “benefit the world” and inject new momentum into global economic development.
In recent days, a number of international institutions, including Citibank, have raised their economic growth forecasts for China. Facts have proved that China’s economy is healthy and sustainable. As Mir Jegesay, a senior correspondent for Pakistan’s state television, told International Review, “The Chinese economy has huge development potential, which is not only good for China itself, but also for the world.”
LiuQing, a reporter from China Global Television Networ (CGTN)