Nation's per capita GDP to cross $10,000

China's per capita GDP will for the first time exceed $10,000 in 2019, The Paper reported quoting an official from the country's top economic regulator.

China's GDP is expected to near 100 trillion yuan ($14.37 trillion) in 2019, with per capita GDP of more than $10,000, Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the annual meeting of China's macro economy in Beijing on Saturday.

Ning said that in 2019, some economic indicators such as consumer price index, newly added jobs, resident income, and renminbi exchange rate all maintained at reasonable levels.

China's per capita GDP exceeding $10,000 not only means income of China's people and enterprises have increased, it also marks a significant progress in human history, Ning said.

Ning said, based on data released by the World Bank in 2018, there were 1.6 billion people with per capita GDP above $10,000. As per capita GDP of China, a nation with nearly 1.4 billion people, exceeds $10,000, a total of 3 billion people will enter the ranks, which will play a positive role for the whole world.

Earlier, some experts also predicted that China's per capita GDP will exceed $10,000 in 2019, which reflects an important transformation for the whole society structure, as well as a new turning point for the economy.

The CPI, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.9 percent year-on-year in 2019, within government target of 3 percent. During the first 11 months of last year, 12.79 million new urban jobs were created, two months ahead of schedule, exceeding the annual goal of creating more than 11 million new jobs, Ning said.

Meanwhile, during the first three quarters of last year, the growth of resident per capita disposable income synchronized economic growth. The exchange rate of renminbi was basically stable, while the growth of import and export for trade in goods were stable overall and realized positive growth.

Notably, the purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector has stood above 50, a boundary between expansion and contraction, for two consecutive months.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's manufacturing PMI stood at 50.2 in December, unchanged from November. This marks the second straight month of expansion, partly buoyed by booming supply and demand as well as increasing export orders, said NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

China will release its 2019 full year economic growth data on Jan 17. Earlier, Renmin University predicted the figure will be 6.1 percent, down 0.5 percentage point from the previous year.