On Friday, the National Bureau of Statistics released data on China’s economy in 2019, with the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) growing 6.1% last year – the lowest rate since 1990, Financial Times reports. The growth rate was 0.5% lower than GDP growth recorded in 2018.
Last year’s figure still managed to hit the Central Government’s target range of between 6-6.5% set out in early 2019, with the first two quarters of 2019 recording 6.4% and 6.2% growth, respectively. In addition to Beijing growth targets, reported GDP growth lined up with expectations from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, as cited by South China Morning Post.
In 2019, GDP totaled RMB99 trillion, with more than half of the total coming from the service sector. In addition to GDP figures, the data shows retail sales in China grew by 8% last year, with online retail sales’ growth rising by more than 16% in 2019.
In the report, the National Bureau of Statistics notes that the Central Government is doing a good job in keeping areas such as employment, finance, foreign trade and investment, among other areas, stable as the country faces increasing risks at home and abroad.
The data comes just two days after China and the US signed the first phase of a long-awaited trade deal, with the US pledging to cut back on tariff rates imposed last September in exchange for China’s pledge to purchase more US products, particularly in agriculture and manufacturing sectors.
[Cover image via Pixabay]
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