China makes new progress in high-quality economic development

China has made solid progress in advancing economic structural adjustment, constantly improving the quality and efficiency of development, and ushering high-quality development to a new level, CCTV reported on Thursday.

The added value of high-tech manufacturing industry witnessed 9.6 percent year-on-year growth in the first half of this year, 6.2 percentage points higher than that of the total industrial added value of enterprises above designated size.

Investment in high-tech industries increased 20.2 percent in the same period with accelerated development of modern service industries and steadily improved industrial structure.

China's total online retail sales grew 3.1 percent to reach 6.3 trillion yuan ($940 billion) in the first half of this year. Online retail sales of physical goods accounted for 25.9 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods in H1, up 2.2 percentage points year-on-year.

The new-type consumption accelerated its pace with the support of new business forms, models and scenarios.

In the same period, the country's imports and exports increased 9.4 percent year-on-year, with the import and export of mechanical and electrical products up 4.2 percent, accounting for 49.1 percent of the total import and export volume, and a continuously optimized trade structure.

These achievements are the results of active adjustment and guidance in the form of a series of forward-looking measures for economic structural reform, said Sheng Chaoxun, director of Strategic Policy Department, China Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

China's digitalization transformation and upgrading sped up acceleration in the first half of this year with more than 3,100 "5G plus industrial internet" projects being built.

The country's numerical control rate of key processes in industrial enterprises above designated size reached 55.7 percent and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools of such enterprises was 75.1 percent in H1. China's traditional industry also accelerated digital, intelligent and green expansion.

China's innovation driving force continued to rise with the number of valid invention patents exceeding 3.9 million in H1, up 17.5 percent year-on-year.

The total revenue of the electronic information manufacturing, software, communications and internet industries exceeded 10 trillion yuan in H1, and the digital economy played a stronger role in driving economic growth.

China witnessed steady progress in green development with electricity generated by clean energy up 12.8 percent year-on-year in H1. The proportion of clean energy consumption in total energy consumption increased by 1.3 percentage points year-on-year and more than 90 percent of new buildings were "green".

The economic changes in the first half of this year showed the strong and unique resilience of the Chinese economy, said Wang Yiming, vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.

China is experiencing a new round of transformation and upgrading in the face of mounting external pressure. This increased wiggle room for economic stability and its significance for the Chinese economy is expected to be further revealed in the future, Wang said.