李克强总理在中国—葡语国家经贸合作论坛第五届部长级会议开幕式上的主旨演讲3_其他

李克强总理在中国—葡语国家经贸合作论坛第五届部长级会议开幕式上的主旨演讲3

Many of you follow trends in the Chinese economy closely. Let me give you a briefing about latest developments. Despite the weak recovery of the world economy in recent years and growing impact of deep-seated imbalances within China, the Chinese economy has been operating within a reasonable range, achieving steady growth and continued progress in restructuring and upgrading at the same time. It remains one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world and contributes over 25 percent to world economic growth. The 6.7 percent growth in the first half of this year is by no means easy, given the size of our 10 trillion-dollar economy. The increment of 6.7 percent growth, over $800 billion a year, is in fact bigger than that generated by double-digit growth in the past, amounting to the economic aggregate of a medium-sized country.

Coming to the third quarter, the Chinese economy is not only continuing with the good momentum seen in the first half of the year, but also showing some positive changes with bigger contribution by consumption and services to the economic growth and improvement of major indicators which were previously weak or declining. Growth rate of industrial output, corporate performance and investment are all looking up. Downturn in private investment, in particular, has been curbed. Expectations have improved.

Overall, the Chinese economy this year, especially in the third quarter, has performed better than what we expected. Employment, in particular, has remained basically stable. Each year in the past three years, more than 13 million new urban jobs were created. In the first nine months of this year, the number stood at 10.67 million, maintaining this rate of job creation. In September, the surveyed urban unemployment rate in 31 big cities fell below 5 percent, the first time in recent years. For China, a big developing country of more than 1.3 billion people, employment is of primary importance. The main purpose of growth, after all, is to ensure job creation and improve people’s well-being.