II. Transformation and upgrading further progressed, and the economic structure was optimized and adjusted.
As China’s economy shifts to high-quality development, structural optimization and upgrading has become an important aspect of assessing the quality of development. In the first half of this year, China continued to promote transformation in the course of development and pursue development amidst transformation, focused on resolving imbalanced and inadequate development, facilitated optimization and adjustment of the demand structure, strengthened the role of domestic demand as a driver of growth, expedited industrial upgrading, and implemented major regional development strategies. On this basis, we have enhanced coordinated development between urban and rural areas and between different regions, constantly improved the structure of the national economy, and steadily raised the quality of development.
1. Consumer demand drove economic growth in a more coordinated manner.
We have actively encouraged a sound circle between supply and demand to foster a strong domestic market, promoted the renewal and upgrading of major consumer goods, and improved the consumption environment, thus effectively exerting the fundamental role of consumption. In the first half of this year, the contribution of final consumption expenditure growth to economic growth was 60.1%, 40.9 percentage points higher than that of gross capital formation. Meanwhile, the trend toward consumption upgrading is obvious, with higher quality and more efficient products proving popular. Consumption of services continued to expand, accounting for 49.4% of total household final consumption expenditure, a year-on-year increase of 0.6 percentage points. In line with the requirements for consumption upgrading and development, investment in the high-tech industry and the social domain rapidly increased, with investment in the high-tech industry growing by 11.5% year-on-year, 5.7 percentage points higher than total investment growth. Following the accelerated transformation and upgrading of foreign trade, the value added of exports continued to rise. General exports accounted for 58.8% of China’s total exports, a year-on-year increase of 1.8 percentage points, while exports of new-energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and medical instruments grew rapidly.
2. Industrial development moved toward the medium-high end.
The service industry maintained strong momentum, steadily increasing its share in the economy. In the first half of this year, the value added of the tertiary industry accounted for 54.9% of GDP, a year-on-year increase of 0.5 percentage points, and its contribution to economic growth was 60.3%, 23.2 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry. The modern service industry saw relatively fast development. From January to May, the operating incomes of enterprises in high-tech services and in scientific and technological services increased by 12.3% and 12% respectively year-on-year, faster than that of all large-scale enterprises in service industries by 2.2 and 1.9 percentage points respectively. Industries surged toward the medium-high end, with the quality of their supply improving steadily. In the first half of this year, the value added of the high-tech manufacturing industry grew by 9% year-on-year, accounting for 13.8% of that of large-scale industrial enterprises, constituting a year-on-year increase of 0.8 percentage points. Agricultural restructuring advanced steadily, with an increasing acreage of highly efficient and good quality agricultural products. The intended acreage of soybean production increased by 16.4%, while the acreage of middle- and late-season rice with better quality and higher market prices also increased.
3. The regional development gap continued to narrow.
We have promoted the orderly advancement of a new type of urbanization, and gradually established mechanisms for planning, implementing, coordinating, and promoting the rural revitalization strategy, while incomes of rural residents have continued to grow at a faster rate than those of urban residents. In the first half of this year, the per capita disposable incomes of rural and urban residents increased by 6.6% and 5.7% respectively in real terms, and the ratio of per capita disposable incomes between the two was 2.74, down 0.03 year-on-year. We made solid progress in major regional strategic tasks such as the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, intensified support for the revitalization of the northeastern region, continued to improve the regional development layout, and narrowed the development gap between the central and western regions and the eastern region. In the first half of this year, the value added of large-scale industrial enterprises in the central region grew 8.4% year-on-year, 3.5 percentage points higher than that of the eastern region, while the per capita disposable incomes of residents in the central and western regions increased by 9.3% and 9.1% respectively, higher than that of the eastern region by 0.7 and 0.5 percentage points respectively. Thoroughly implementing major strategies such as the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, the development of the Xiongan New Area, and the comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up in Hainan Province will bring new opportunities for coordinated regional development.
