ShareBy Zhang Jianwei
Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the State of Kuwait
In 2022, the world underwent both major changes unseen in a century and the once-in-a-century pandemic. The geopolitical situation was turbulent, and the downside risks of the world economy were increasing. Facing the complex international environment and the arduous task of promoting domestic reform while keeping stability, the Chinese government adhered to the general working guideline of making progress while maintaining stability, and coordinated the work of epidemic control and economic development in an effective way. As a result, the national economy continued to develop despite downward pressure. The Chinese economy in 2022 was featured with the following highlights.
Overall economic development was stable and healthy. Faced with the severe economic condition both at home and abroad, the Chinese government promptly issued a package of policies and follow-up policies to stabilize the economy. In the second quarter, the goal of positive economic growth and an early decline in the unemployment rate was achieved. In the third quarter, the economy rebounded significantly. Although the economic operations fluctuated in the fourth quarter, it maintained a recovery momentum. China's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 was 121.0207 trillion yuan (about $18 trillion), an increase of 3 percent over last year at constant prices. Against the backdrop of a complex and severe external environment and the repeated impact of the COVID-19 epidemic at home, it was not easy to achieve such growth.
Prices were generally stable. In sharp contrast to the global spike in consumer price, especially with some countries' inflation growing to a multi-decade high, China's consumer prices in 2022 saw a mild growth of 2 percent, lower than the expected annual rate of 3 percent. Employment levels were generally stable. Despite downward pressure on the Chinese economy, a total of 12.06 million new urban jobs were created in 2022, exceeding the annual target of 11 million.
Food security has been effectively guaranteed. The Chinese government has made great efforts to ensure agricultural production and energy supply. The annual grain output in 2022 reached 686.55 billion kilograms, an increase of 3.7 billion kilograms from the previous year, and has remained stable at more than 0.65 trillion kilograms for eight consecutive years.
The development of foreign trade was better than expected. Although affected by multiple factors, China's scale of foreign trade in 2022 hit a record high again with the total value of import and export of goods reaching 42.1 trillion yuan (about $6.3 trillion). This marked an increase of 7.7 percent, as China maintained the status of the world's largest cargo country for six consecutive years. The trade structure has been continuously optimized.
The import and export of private enterprises increased by 12.9 percent, the export of labor-intensive products and machinery and electronic products increased by 8.9 percent and 7.0 percent respectively, the export of new energy vehicles and other products increased rapidly. Trade in services grew steadily, with the total value of imports and exports of services reaching 5.98 trillion yuan (about $900 billion), an increase of 12.9 percent.
The import and export of travel services and knowledge-intensive services increased by 8.4 percent and 7.8 percent respectively. The use of foreign capital continued to grow. China's actual use of foreign capital in 2022 was 1.2 trillion yuan (about $180 billion), an increase of 6.3 percent on a comparable basis. This proves once again that China is still a popular destination for foreign investment.
The quality of foreign investment continued to improve. Foreign investment in the manufacturing sector increased by 46.1 percent, accounting for 26.3 percent of all investment, an increase of 7.8 percent. Foreign investment in the high-tech industry increased by 28.3 percent, accounting for 36.1 percent, an increase of 7.1 percent. Investment from major sources maintained growth. Among them, investment from South Korea, Germany and the United Kingdom increased by 64.2 percent, 52.9 percent, and 40.7 percent respectively, and investment from Hong Kong SAR increased by 1.7 percent.
Outward investment developed steadily. The annual non-financial outward foreign direct investment was 785.94 billion yuan (about $117.3 billion), an increase of 7.2 percent. Among them, investment in countries and regions along the routes of the Belt and Road increased by 7.7 percent, accounting for 17.9 percent. In terms of industry, investment in the manufacturing sector increased by 22.4 percent, accounting for 18.5 percent; investment in the wholesale and retail industry increased by 24.6 percent; investment in the construction industry increased by 19.8 percent; investment and cooperation in green, digital and other fields have become the sectors of new growth.
People's lives continued to improve. The Chinese people became more affluent in 2022, with per capita disposable income reaching 36,883 yuan (about $5505), increased by 5 percent.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of China's "reform and opening up" policy, as well as the 10th anniversary of the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative. At the beginning of 2023, the Chinese economy is showing a good start. Fueled by the optimization of COVID-19 prevention and control measures, Chinese consumers increased their spending significantly during the Spring Festival holiday, not only on goods like duty-free commodities, jewelry and health-related products, but also on services such as travel and entertainment.
A total of 308 million domestic trips were made during the week, almost 90 percent of the pre-pandemic figure in 2019. Outbound flight bookings rose 6.7 times over the level in 2022, highlighting the strong recovery in tourism market. As Industry experts said, China's consumer market, which plays a fundamental role in bolstering the country's economic growth, is expected to gain momentum this year, and the consumption boom during the weeklong Chinese Lunar New Year holiday showcased the enormous vitality and strong resilience of the nation's economy.
In 2023, China will continue to try to make progress while maintaining stability, and follow a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy. We will strive to maintain proper economic growth, and keep prices and jobs stable. More focus will be placed on expanding domestic demand, keeping supply chains stable, supporting the private sector, reforming the State-owned enterprises, attracting foreign investment, and preventing economic and financial risks.
The International Monetary Fund projects that the growth of the Chinese economy will accelerate to 5.2 percent in 2023. With the accelerated recovery of consumer demand and the effects of the economic policies from the central government, China, whose social vitality and economic potential has been further unleashed, will continue to be the engine and stabilizer that promotes the recovery of the world economy.
NOTE: The report is issued by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China to the State of Kuwait
