China witnesses gradual rebound in critical indicators, including industry

The Chinese economy will continue to remain on a steady recovery path with supportive government measures gradually taking effect, China's top economic regulator said on Monday.

While the official data have not been released, Zhao Chenxin, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said China's economy rebounded notably in the third quarter, and the nation's economy is doing well compared with other countries.

Zhao said at a news conference in Beijing that China's economy has maintained a recovery trend this year despite fluctuations in months such as March, April and July, thus showcasing its strong resilience and great potential.

Despite difficulties and challenges, China has witnessed a gradual rebound in key economic indicators including industrial production, services, investment and consumption with the help of effective government measures to contain COVID-19 and stabilize growth, thus showing a steady recovery trend overall, he added.

Zhao said China has the world's largest middle-income group, a complete industrial system and supply chain, and a modern infrastructure, thus providing huge opportunities and creating a broad market for stakeholders.

Citing the latest data, he said the country has witnessed a remarkable rise in key equipment orders for such goods as energy and petrochemical equipment, mining and engineering machinery as well as industrial robots.

Lloyd Chan, senior economist at think tank Oxford Economics, said China's economy has picked up in the third quarter after an unsatisfactory performance in the second quarter.

Chan said his team expects the Chinese economy to continue to improve over the remainder of the year and into 2023, aided by existing policy support along with infrastructure spending.

He believes that domestic demand will continue to improve with better containment of the COVID-19 pandemic, and government policy measures such as the reduction of purchase taxes on vehicles will also be supportive of growth.

"Authorities are implementing more policy measures to stabilize growth and improve the efficient deployment of resources to support employment, consumption and infrastructure investment," Chan said.

"Stimulus measures rolled out in March's Government Work Report and the 33 measures announced in May will feed through in the second half. We expect infrastructure investment will remain strong and do the heavy lifting to support growth," he added.

Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said China's economy would continue to rebound in the third quarter despite pressure from renewed COVID-19 outbreaks, extreme weather and property sector fragility.

Citing China's latest economic figures, Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank, said the country's inflation rate has remained at a moderate and controllable level, creating favorable conditions for stabilizing growth and giving some leeway for policymakers to step up macro policy adjustments.

Compared with soaring prices in other major economies, China's overall price levels are generally stable. China's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose by 2.8 percent year-on-year in September, while US consumer inflation in September surged 8.2 percent from a year ago.

Teng Tai, director of the Wanbo New Economic Research Institute, said that given China's overall stable price levels, China has plenty of room for monetary easing.

Looking ahead, Teng said more efforts should be made to boost domestic demand, including expanding investment and spurring consumption.