China's GDP expands 9.8 pct in first three quarters

Aerial photo taken on July 13, 2021 shows a container terminal in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province. (Xinhua/Long Wei)

BEIJING, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's economy continued stable recovery in the first three quarters of this year with major indicators staying within a reasonable range, official data showed Monday.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 9.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters, putting the average growth for the period in the past two years at 5.2 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

In the third quarter (Q3), the country's GDP grew 4.9 percent year on year, slower than the growth of 18.3 percent in Q1 and 7.9 percent in Q2.

"The Chinese economy has maintained the recovery momentum in the first three quarters with progress in structural adjustment and high quality development," said NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui.

Consumption contributed the lion's share to the economic growth in Jan.-Sept., while net exports contributed 19.5 percent to the GDP increase.

Major economic indicators showed continued improvements across the board, with retail sales of consumer goods jumping 16.4 percent year on year in the first three quarters this year.

China's value-added industrial output went up 11.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters, while fixed-asset investment went up 7.3 percent year on year during the period.

The country's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent in September, 0.5 percentage points lower than the same period last year, NBS data showed.

During the Jan.-Sept. period, China added 10.45 million new urban jobs in the first three quarters, achieving 95 percent of the target for the whole year.

Recognizing the progress, Fu cautioned against rising uncertainties in the international environment and uneven recovery in the domestic economy, adding that the country will take various measures to keep the economy running within a reasonable range.