9月17日早间英文播报：Data points to stronger recovery

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A technician calibrates equipment at amanufacturing plant in Qingzhou, Shandong province. [Photo by Wang Jilin/For ChinaDaily]

Continuedrebound prompts economists to raise forecast on China's GDP growth

China's economy continued its strongrecovery in August from the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as keyeconomic data pointed to a stabilizing growth trend and a steady rebound ofdomestic demand, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

The stronger-than-expected recovery hasprompted some economists to raise their forecast on China's growth for the restof the year, and experts said that the country's robust recovery will be acrucial stabilizer for the global economy.

Industrial output in China expanded by 5.6percent year-on-year in August, exceeding the growth rate in the previous monthby 0.8 of a percentage point. Retail sales returned to growth for the firsttime this year, rising 0.5 percent year-on-year in August, according to theNBS.

Fixed-asset investment, including in themanufacturing, infrastructure and property sectors, grew 4.18 percent in Augustfrom the previous month. From January to August, fixed-asset investmentdeclined 0.3 percent year-on-year, narrowing from the 1.6 percent decrease inthe first seven months.

NBS spokesman Fu Linghui said that therebound of domestic demand, the acceleration of investment growth and the recoveryof consumption are playing a stronger role in driving the country's overalleconomic activities.

"If such momentum continues inSeptember, China will see faster growth in the third quarter than in the secondquarter," Fu said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

The NBS spokesman warned that the Chineseeconomy still faces external uncertainties as the pandemic has not beeneffectively controlled globally and the government should continue to step uppolicy support to ensure stability in key areas including employment, corporateoperations and people's livelihoods.

Some economists have raised their forecastsfor China's GDP growth for the rest of year after the August data pointed torobust economic activities in the country.

"Strong external demand, a furtherrecovery from the pandemic and pent-up demand from the floods all contributedto the robust activity data in August," Lu Ting, chief China economist atNomura Securities, said in a research note.

"The stronger-than-expected data in Augustsupport our recent decision to raise our Q3 and Q4 growth forecasts to 5.2percent year-on-year and 5.7 percent, respectively. We expect a further, albeitgradual, recovery of the services sector, a steady improvement in retail salesand elevated fixed-asset investment growth," Lu said.

The recovery of China's domesticconsumption has beat expectations and has been a bright spot as the country'sretail sales returned to growth for the first time this year. The country'sservices sector also continued to recover as business activities in thecatering, hotel and entertainment sectors substantially picked up in August,the NBS said.

Wei Jianguo, vice-chairman of the ChinaCenter for International Economic Exchanges and former vice-minister ofcommerce, said that China has ample tools to spur domestic consumption and moresupportive policies could be implemented in areas including expandinggovernment procurement, encouraging more imports by setting up more duty-freestores and widening market access to further liberalize trade and investment.

"After the pandemic, China is likelyto be a key growth driver in the global consumer market. And the purchasingpower of its vast population will continue to be a leading force drivingChina's growth," Wei said.

According to German media reports quotingdata from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, China surpassed the UnitedStates to become the largest importer of German goods in the second quarter,purchasing nearly 23 billion euros ($27.3 billion) of goods during the period.

China was the only G20 economy to recordeconomic growth in the second quarter of this year while most other G20 membercountries saw an "unprecedented " contraction in their economies, theOrganization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a report onMonday.

Tang Jianwei, chief researcher at theFinancial Research Center of the Bank of Communications, said that productionand demand are recovering synchronously in China and the country's GDP growthis likely to return to growth of around 5 to 6 percent in the third quarter.

Tang said that the steady economic recoveryhas reduced the likelihood of policymakers in Beijing further engaging inmonetary easing to stimulate the economy for the remainder of the year.

Zhou Lanxu contributed to this story.

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记者：李想

播报：OwenFishwick

原文链接：

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202009/16/WS5f614cb7a31024ad0ba79be6.html