Five trends of China's economy in August

Key economic indicators for August show the Chinese economy continued to slow in expansion but held steady in reforms, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Liu Aihua, a spokeswoman for the NBS, said at a press conference Thursday that in the first eight months of this year, China's economic growth was maintained in a reasonable range, structural adjustments were continuously deepened and quality and efficiency kept improving.

She summarized the characteristics of China's economy in five aspects:

1. Steady growth

A technician tests a drug sample at a biopharmaceutical company in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province on Aug 27, 2017. [Photo/IC]

China's value-added industrial output grew 6.7 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, 0.7 percentage point higher than the growth rate over the same period last year, according to the NBS.

In August, the value-added industrial output increased by 6 percent year-on-year, keeping a relatively rapid growth.

The service sector production index increased 8.3 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, up 0.2 percentage point from the same period last year.

It rose 8.3 percent year-on-year in August, up 0.9 percentage point from the same month last year.

On the demand side, retail sales grew 10.4 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, 0.1 percentage point higher than the same period last year.

Investment growth was steady, with fixed asset investment rising 7.8 percent year-on-year in the January-August period and investment into areas of weakness maintaining a relatively sound growth.

In addition, China's imports and exports kept two-digit rates of growth.