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E-mail China.org.cn, February 25, 2025
Shou Xiaoli:
Thank you, Mr. Kang, for your introduction. The floor is now open for questions.
National Business Daily:
We know that the global economy in 2024 remained in a phase of cyclical adjustment, with rising protectionism and persistent geopolitical risks. Faced with multiple challenges, how did China’s economy perform overall? And were the key targets and tasks for last year successfully achieved? Thank you.
Kang Yi:
Thank you for your questions. The year 2024 marked the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and was a critical year for achieving the goals and tasks set forth in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). Over the past year, facing the complicated and challenging environment of mounting external pressures and internal difficulties, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core united and led the Chinese people of all ethnic groups across the country to calmly respond to changes and take a holistic approach. As a result, the national economy in 2024 was generally stable with steady progress and high-quality development was steadily advanced. The key goals and tasks for 2024 were successfully accomplished, and new solid strides were taken in building Chinese modernization. Looking back at the extraordinary journey of 2024, I would like to summarize the year's economic performance with five hard-won achievements.
First, facing mounting external pressures and internal difficulties, China's GDP reached new heights, which was a hard-won achievement. In 2024, the international environment was complex, the momentum for global economic growth was weak, geopolitical conflicts became more acute, and trade protectionism intensified. Domestically, effective demand was insufficient, the transformation from old growth drivers to new ones was accompanied by growing pains, and some industries and enterprises faced issues in their production and operation. Facing such challenges, China's economy withstood the pressure and overcame difficulties, making new breakthroughs in its GDP and new contributions to global development. In 2024, China's GDP reached 134.9 trillion yuan, passing the 130 trillion yuan mark for the first time, increasing by 5% compared to the previous year. China remained the world's second largest economy. Globally, China's economic growth rate of 5% ranked among the top in the world's major economies and continued to be an important driver of global economic growth.
Second, the timely introduction of a package of policies effectively boosted social confidence, particularly promoting a marked economic recovery, which was a hard-won achievement. Due to various factors, China's economic growth slowed in the second and third quarters of 2024, facing considerable downward economic pressure. In response, the CPC Central Committee strengthened macro regulation in light of the changing conditions. At the meeting held by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee on Sept. 26, 2024, a package of incremental policies was rolled out, greatly boosting confidence and stimulating vitality, which promoted economic recovery. In the fourth quarter of 2024, China's GDP grew by 5.4% year on year, with the growth rate 0.8 percentage point higher than the third quarter. The growth rates of the total value added of industrial enterprises above designated size, the value added of service sector, and the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 0.7, 1.0 and 1.1 percentage points, respectively. The manufacturing PMI began to return to the expansion range in October, and the non-manufacturing business activity index continued to increase steadily, reaching 52.2% in December.
Third, during the process of overcoming economic challenges, new progress has been made in high-quality development, which was a hard-won achievement. China's economy is at a critical juncture of transformation and upgrading. Faced with difficulties and challenges, all sectors remain committed to achieving the primary task of high-quality development, adjusting measures to local conditions to develop new quality productive forces, promoting new growth drivers to build momentum, renewing and upgrading traditional driving forces, optimizing the economic structure and renewing driving forces. We have optimized and upgraded the industrial structure. In 2024, the added value of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing above designated size accounted for 16.3% and 34.6%, respectively, of the added value of industries above designated size, which represented increases of 0.6 and 1.0 percentage points from the previous year. New-type urbanization is also steadily advancing, with urbanization of the permanent population reaching 67.00% at the end of the year, up by 0.84 percentage point compared to the end of the previous year. The transition to a green and low-carbon economy is also accelerating. According to preliminary estimates, the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption in the total energy consumption in 2024 increased by 1.8 percentage points compared to the previous year. The results of high-level opening up to the outside world are also very clear, with the total value of imports and exports of goods reaching 43.8 trillion yuan, setting a new record.
Fourth, employment stability and income growth have been strengthened, and people’s living standards have been steadily guaranteed and improved, which was a hard-won achievement. Enabling people to lead happy lives is the fundamental goal of our development and our top priority. In 2024, various regions and departments thoroughly implemented measures to improve people's lives, with greater efforts to stabilize employment and promote income growth. The national surveyed urban unemployment rate averaged 5.1% for the year, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous year, and the per capita disposable income of residents increased by 5.1% in real terms, in line with economic growth. The scale of employment for people lifted out of poverty has remained stable at over 30 million for four consecutive years, and new progress has been made in education, health care, elderly care and child care.
Fifth, development and security have been coordinated, food and energy security have been strengthened, and risks have been effectively defused in key areas, which was a hard-won achievement. In 2024, China's grain output reached a historic high, surpassing the new milestone of 700 million metric tons for the first time. Total primary energy production has continued to increase, and the energy supply has been guaranteed. We optimized policies related to real estate, steadily promoted the completion of housing projects, and explored the establishment of a new model for real estate development. Since September, the real estate market has shown positive changes. In the fourth quarter, the sales area and sales volume of newly built commercial housing increased by 0.5% and 1.0% year on year, respectively, reversing the previous downward trend. A series of targeted measures have been introduced and proven effective in addressing key areas of risk such as local government debt as well as small- and medium-sized financial institutions, effectively consolidating the foundation for national security and development.
Overall, in 2024, China's economy overcame various difficulties and challenges brought by the complex internal and external environment, successfully achieved the main expected goals and tasks, promoted effective qualitative improvements and reasonable quantitative economic growth, and achieved substantial high-quality development. The achievements were truly hard-won. These are the results of the Party leading the entire nation in joint efforts, reflecting the country's economic base, numerous advantages, strong resilience and significant potential, and laying a solid foundation for the high-quality completion of the goals and tasks in the 14th Five-Year Plan. Of course, we must also clearly recognize that the adverse effects brought by the external environment are deepening, domestic demand is insufficient, some enterprises are facing difficulties in production and operation, employment and income growth are under pressure, many risks and potential dangers remain, and much effort is required to promote economic recovery and improvement. In the next stage, we must follow the decisions and arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference, face difficulties, strengthen confidence, prioritize action and transform various favorable factors into tangible development achievements, continuously promoting sustained economic improvement.
Thank you.
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