On July 15th, Sheng Laiyun, Deputy Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that since the beginning of this year, the international environment has been complex and changing, and the international economic and trade order has been severely damaged, with increased instability and uncertainty. Faced with the complex situation, all regions and departments have conscientiously implemented the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, adhered to the coordination of domestic economic work and international economic and trade struggles, accelerated the implementation of more active and proactive macro policies, focused on stabilizing employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, and the national economy has moved forward and operated steadily under pressure, with main indicators better than expected. High quality development has been solidly promoted, and the economy has maintained a stable and positive development trend. According to Sheng Laiyun, there are four main characteristics of economic operation in the first half of the year: firstly, the sustained trend of "stability". The GDP in the first half of the year increased by 5.3% year-on-year, with a growth rate 0.3 percentage points higher than the same period last year and the whole year. The overall surveyed unemployment rate is stable, and since the beginning of this year, the monthly surveyed unemployment rate has fluctuated between 5.0% and 5.4%. Prices are running at a low level, and in June, CPI turned from negative to positive, with a year-on-year growth of 0.1%. The core CPI has already rebounded to 0.7%. The balance of international payments is basically balanced, and China's import and export of goods have reached a new high in the same period, with foreign exchange reserves maintained at over 3.2 trillion US dollars. From the above four macro indicators, the main tone of stable economic operation has not changed. Secondly, the pace of progress is firm. While maintaining stable economic operation, various regions are steadfastly promoting economic transformation and high-quality development. From the data, new achievements have been made in innovative development, coordinated development, green development, open development, and shared development. The third is the accumulation of "new" kinetic energy. Various regions should develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, increase the integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and continue to maintain rapid development of new industries, new technologies, and new formats. In the first half of the year, the added value of high-tech industries increased by 9.5% year-on-year. By 2024, the added value of the "three new" industries will account for about 18% of GDP, and new momentum is accumulating. The fourth is the improvement of the "smooth" cycle. Since the beginning of this year, in response to external challenges, China has placed greater emphasis on expanding and strengthening the domestic circulation, and has introduced a series of policies to support the expansion of domestic demand, promote production, and smooth circulation. According to statistical data, the flow of people, goods, and funds is improving. In the first half of the year, domestic demand contributed 68.8% to GDP growth, with final consumption expenditure accounting for 52%, which is the driving force behind growth. The economy is improving, with freight turnover increasing by 5.1% year-on-year and passenger turnover increasing by 4.9% in the first half of the year. According to data from the central bank, M2 increased by 8.3% year-on-year at the end of June. Wen Bin, Chief Economist of Minsheng Bank, told reporters that the economy has steadily closed in the first half of the year. Faced with the rapidly changing external environment, China has intensified the implementation of more proactive macro policies, maintained resilience in exports, stable growth in domestic demand, and overall stability and progress in the national economy, laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual goals. Feng Lin, Executive Director of the Research and Development Department of Dongfang Jincheng, told reporters that overall, the macroeconomic situation in the first half of the year continued the strong growth trend since the fourth quarter of last year, with high-tech manufacturing and other fields representing the development of new quality productivity maintaining rapid growth. The macroeconomic situation showed a stable but strong and positive trend. The main reason behind this is that in the face of changes in the external environment, China has intensified the implementation of more proactive macro policies, which have significantly promoted consumption and expanded investment. At the same time, during the severe fluctuations in the international economic and trade environment in the first half of the year, various "export grabbing" and "export transfer" effects have emerged, and the driving force of external demand for economic growth has not decreased but increased, exceeding market expectations. It is worth noting that the performance of the consumer market this year has been remarkable. In the first half of the year, the year-on-year growth of total retail sales of consumer goods accelerated, and market activity increased, which strongly supported the growth of GDP in the first half of the year. In the first half of the year, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 24.55 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5%. Among them, the second quarter increased by 5.4%, which was 0.8 percentage points faster than the first quarter. Sheng Laiyun stated that in the first half of the year, the Chinese consumer market became more active and developed positively under a series of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption. Currently, China is at a critical stage of upgrading its consumption structure, with per capita GDP remaining stable at over 13000 US dollars for two consecutive years. This stage is a critical period for consumption upgrading, with vast space for cultural tourism, medical and health care, and elderly care consumption. Our country has a population of over 1.4 billion, and the market size advantage is very obvious. In addition, there is still a significant gap between urban and rural areas, especially in terms of per capita consumption level, compared to some developed countries. The gap lies in the room for growth. ”Sheng Laiyun stated that in order for consumption to continue to develop healthily, it is necessary to increase residents' income levels and further improve the consumption environment. The central policies and measures introduced by relevant departments are still being promoted, and various regions need to further implement the requirements of the central policy of expanding domestic demand, deploy according to the action plan for consumption improvement, further "stabilize employment, promote income growth", improve the consumption environment, increase high-quality consumption supply, and promote the sustained and healthy development of the consumer market. The external environment is still complex and ever-changing, internal structural contradictions have not been fundamentally alleviated, and the foundation of economic operation still needs to be strengthened. ”Sheng Laiyun pointed out that in the next stage, we must unwaveringly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee, expand and strengthen the domestic circulation, strengthen confidence, maintain determination, and steadfastly do our own thing well. We must unwaveringly promote high-quality economic development, respond to external uncertainties with the certainty of China's high-quality economic development, and continue to promote the stable and far-reaching development of the Chinese economy. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, Feng Lin predicts that the growth rates of consumption and investment will accelerate. On the basis of rapid economic growth in the first half of the year, this can ensure the achievement of the annual economic growth target of around 5.0%, and the new quality productivity field represented by high-tech manufacturing will continue to maintain a fast growth momentum. Wen Bin believes that considering the controllable pressure to achieve the annual target and the significant room for existing policies, it is expected that the decision-making level will flexibly grasp the intensity and pace of policies. (New Society)