BEIJING (Reuters) – China revised up its 2023 gross domestic product by 2.7% to 129.4 trillion yuan ($17.73 trillion), a senior statistics official said on Thursday, as it released its fifth national economic census.
Political support late this year has put China’s economy on track to meet a growth target of “around 5%” with activity improving slightly, but challenges such as potential increases in US tariffs continue to weigh on next year’s prospects.
Kang Yi, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing, adding that the bureau would publish more details about the review on its website in the next few days.
Kang said that the Chinese economy “has withstood the test of multiple internal and external risks over the past five years, and has maintained an overall stable trend with progress.”
He pointed out that the fifth economic census that was implemented during the past five years included the three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had a significant impact on the economy.
He added that the international environment has witnessed “profound and complex changes” since the previous census.
The 2023 GDP revision will not have a significant impact on China’s 2024 GDP growth rate, Lin Tao, deputy head of the bureau, said at the same press conference.
The World Bank on Thursday raised its forecasts for China’s economic growth in 2024 and 2025, but warned that weak household and business confidence, coupled with headwinds in the real estate sector, will continue to pressure it next year.
The economic census showed changes in China’s labor market, with the number of people working in tertiary industries increasing by 25.6% at the end of 2023 compared to the end of 2018, but secondary industries had 4.8% fewer employees.
Economic Census data showed that, in light of a severe real estate crisis hampering the overall economic recovery, the number of workers in real estate development companies decreased by 27% to 2.71 million by the end of 2023, compared to the corresponding number in 2018.
Total employment in the real estate sector increased by 40.2% to reach 1.04 million by the end of 2023 compared to the number recorded at the end of 2018.
Tertiary industries range from retail to transportation, restaurants, accommodation, finance and real estate, while secondary industries cover mining, manufacturing, utilities and construction, for example.
($1 = 7.2992)
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