Time: 14:30-14:50 July 23, 2019
Guests: Hao Daojun, Spokesman, Deputy Secretary General, and Research Director of Huai'an Municipal Government
Yan Xixia, Deputy Director of Huai'an Municipal Bureau of Statistics
Abstract: Briefing for Huai'an's economic performance in the first half of 2019
Hao Daojun, Spokesman, Deputy Secretary General, and Research Director of Huai'an Municipal Government:
Dear members of the press,
Good afternoon! Thanks for attending today's press briefing.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which is also a crucial year for us as we endeavor to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. Under the complex macro background which is full of increasing variables and intensifying challenges, how did the economy in Huai'an perform in the first half of this year? This is a main focus of the whole city. Today, we invite deputy director of Huai'an Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Yan Xixia, to attend the briefing and report on Huai'an's economic performance in the first half of 2019.
Now, let's invite Mr. Yan to introduce related performances.
Yan Xixia, Deputy Director of Huai'an Municipal Bureau of Statistics:
Since the beginning of this year, we have fully implemented all major policies and plans made by the Party Central Committee, provincial Party committee and provincial government. We followed the general principle of "keeping stability in changing, pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and striving for better development". Centering on the high-quality leapfrog development, we pursued supply-side structural reform as our main task, working hard to ensure stable employment, a stable financial sector, stable foreign trade, stable foreign investment, stable domestic investment, and stable expectation. As a result, Huai'an's economy achieved "generally stable growth while making further progress, and improvement in both quality and efficiency"; the major economic indicators were kept in a reasonable range.
Among the 17 main ranking indicators, the growth rates of 13 indicators ranked top 7 in the whole province. Specifically, the growth rates of value added of primary industry, the per capita disposable income of all residents, and the balance of RMB loans of financial institutions ranked first; that of the per capita disposable income of urban residents ranked second, and that of GDP, value added in industries above designated scale, and total retail sales of social consumer goods and other three indicators ranked third in the province. In terms of the rankings in northern Jiangsu, the growth rates of 14 indicators ranked top three, among which that of 5 indicators, including the per capita disposable income of all residents, ranked first.
According to primary calculation, the GDP in the first half of 2019 totaled 195.61 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2 percent year on year at comparable prices. This growth rate is 0.9 and 0.7 percentage points higher than that of China and Jiangsu Province respectively, ranking third and second respectively in Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu. The three industries developed steadily. Value added of the primary industry totaled 10.508 billion yuan, up 3.1 percent; that of the secondary industry amounted to 87.603 billion yuan, up 7.8 percent; and that of the tertiary industry reached 97.499 billion yuan, up 7.2 percent. With the continuous optimization of industrial structure, added value of the tertiary industry accounted for 49.8 percent of GDP, an increase of 1.4 percentage points over the same period last year
1. Summer grain crops achieved good harvest and high-efficiency agriculture demonstrated strong momentum of growth.
In the first half of 2019, the total output of summer grain crops in Huai'an reached 1,828,300 tons, among which the output of wheat was 1,819,000 tons, up 1.0 percent and 0.9 percent respectively. The yield of summer grain crops per mu was 384.7 kg, an increase of 10 kg per mu compared with last year, and up 1.8 percent. Meanwhile, the yield of wheat per mu was 385.4 kg, up 1.9 percent. The planting area of summer grain crops totaled 4,753,100 mu, among which the planting area of wheat covered 4,720,200 mu, decreasing by 0.8 percent and 1.0 percent respectively.
In addition, 50,000 mu high-efficiency facility farming areas were newly cultivated in the whole city, and the comprehensive cultivation of rice and shrimp covers an area of 426,000 mu. Fifty-seven leading agricultural enterprises at the provincial level achieved sales revenue of 11.2 billion yuan, an increase of 16 percent over the same period of last year. Agricultural brand building has continued to advance. We actively created "Millennia Huai'an Tastes" and "Xuyi Lobsters" into the first batch of national-level regional brands for local agricultural products. Visitors to the "Millennia Huai'an Tastes" Spring Festival Carnival exceeded 50,000, and the Huai'an characteristic store was launched in Suning.
2. The industrial economy was generally stable and the characteristic industries developed in a clustered way.
In the first half of 2019, value added of industrial enterprises above designated scale in Huai'an increased by 8.3 percent, 2.3 percentage points higher than that of the China and Jiangsu, and the growth rate ranked third in Jiangsu and second in northern Jiangsu. Among 36 industry categories, eighty nine percent of them, namely 32, maintained growth in output value. Enterprise revenue was improved. The total profit of industrial enterprises above designated scale in Huai'an totaled 7,969 million yuan from January to May, up 6.5 percent year on year, and the growth rate was 1.8 percentage points higher than that from January to April. Marked achievements were scored in energy saving and emission reduction. The rate of decrease of energy consumption per unit GDP exceeded the target set by the province.
The output value of high-tech enterprises in the whole city increased by 16.0 percent year on year, 4.6 percentage points faster than the growth rate of output value of all industrial enterprises above designated scale. The development of new momentum accelerated. The output value of the "three news and one special" characteristic advanced industries accounted for 38.5 percent of the total output value of industrial enterprises above designated scale, an increase of 9.2 percent. Specifically, the output value of automobile manufacturing, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, and chemical raw materials and chemical products manufacturing increased by 18.1 percent, 16.3 percent and 13.6 percent respectively.
3. Service industry maintained fast growth, and emerging service industry developed in a sound way.
From January to May, the operating revenue of service industry above designated scale in the whole city totaled 22.559 billion yuan, up 13.7 percent year on year, 4.7 percentage points higher than the average of the province. Specifically, air transport, Internet and related services, and business services grew rapidly, with operating revenue increased by 53.9 percent, 56.6 percent and 41.3 percent year on year respectively, which were 40.2, 42.9 and 27.6 percentage points faster than that of services above designated scale.
In the first half of 2019, the city's highway passenger and freight turnover increased by 2.7 percent year on year; railway passenger and freight turnover grew by 13.7 percent; and civil air transport turnover increased by 23.5 percent, among which passenger throughput increased by 54.4 percent and cargo throughput grew by 41.2 percent. The total postal business increased by 38.8 percent year on year.
4. Investment growth continued to rebound and major projects were progressing in an orderly manner.
In the first half of this year, investment in fixed assets above designated scale in the whole city increased by 6.9 percent year on year, 2.8 percentage points higher than that of the province, and 4.9 percentage points higher than that at the beginning of the year. Among them, industrial investment increased by 9.2 percent year on year, 5.0 percentage points higher than the average growth rate of the whole province. Real estate investment decreased by 10.6 percent year on year under the influence of regulation policy and other factors. From the perspective of investors, private investment grew by 19.4 percent year on year, 12.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate of all investment above designated scale. From the perspective of investment orientation, investment in high-tech industries increased by 24.8 percent year on year, accounting for 11.4 percent of the total investment in industries above designated scale, an increase of 1.4 percentage points over the same period last year. Investment in improving people's livelihood was emphasized. Investment in ecological protection and environment governance, accommodation and catering, public facilities management, and education grew by 7 percent, 45.1 percent, 9.4 percent, and 27.4 percent respectively, higher than investment above designated scale.
In the first half of this year, 46 key projects with an average investment of more than 50 million yuan were put into the project database, and 2.76 billion yuan was invested. Min'an new energy vehicle and Yourmate Wheels were about to put into operation, and 158 key cultivation projects, including Fuqiang new material, were smoothly promoted. The Xuzhou-Yancheng railway, Lianyungang-Zhenjiang railway, Huai'an east railway station and the first phase of the urban inner ring elevated road were smoothly promoted. The Grand Canal Bridge of Huaihai South Road has been completed and opened to traffic, and the Ninghuai railway was about to start construction.
5. The consumer market was stable, and the consumer prices rose moderately.
In the first half of 2019, the total retail sales of social consumer goods in the whole city reached 67.564 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent over the same period last year, 1.8 percentage points higher than the average level of Jiangsu, ranking third in Jiangsu and second in northern Jiangsu. In terms of areas, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas totaled 60.223 billion yuan, an increase of 8.3 percent, while that in rural areas amounted to 7.341 billion yuan, up 13.6 percent. Therefore, the growth rate of consumption in rural areas was faster than that in urban areas. Sales of the goods of consumption upgrade grew rapidly. Cosmetics above quota increased by 14.6 percent, decoration materials by 14.1 percent, books, newspapers and magazines by 26.6 percent, which were 5.8, 5.3, and 17.8 percentage points faster than the growth rate of the total retail sales of social consumer goods. The automotive market has gradually recovered. Retail sales of automotive goods increased by 6.5 percent, up 4.6 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter. Online sales market was booming. Online retail sales increased by 70.6 percent, 61.8 percentage points faster than the growth rate of the total retail sales of social consumer goods.
Consumer prices rose by 1.9 percent in the whole city, 0.6 percentage points lower than the average level of Jiangsu. Market prices kept rising moderately. The prices of seven out of eight categories of goods rose while one declined. Influenced by the rapid rise in meat and fruit prices, prices of food, tobacco and alcohol, which rose by 4.9 percent, experienced a relatively large increase; clothing rose by 2.7 percent, residential goods by 0.4 percent, household goods and services by 2.6 percent, educational, cultural and entertainment goods by 2.5 percent, health care by 0.1 percent, and other goods and services by 1.2 percent. However, the prices of transportation and communications fell by 2.5 percent.
6. Progress was actively sought in foreign trade despite of difficulties, and the quality of foreign investment utilization was improved.
In the first half of this year, the total volume of foreign trade import and export amounted to USD 2.24 billion, down 7.8 percent year on year, a decrease of 0.8 percentage points over the first quarter. Among them, volume of export totaled USD 1.61 billion, up 0.5 percent from the same period last year; that of import amounted to USD 630 million, down 23.7 percent from the same period last year. The structure of trade mode has been further optimized. The import and export of general trade accounted for 60.6 percent, up 2.0 percentage points over last year; export of mechanical and electrical products increased by 13.2 percent, accounting for 38.8 percent of total exports, up 4.3 percentage points over the same period last year.
In the first half of 2019, 73 new foreign-invested projects were set up in Huai'an, of which 21 were major projects with an average investment of more than USD 30 million. Actual foreign investment on account (municipal level) amounted to USD 530 million, an increase of 1.5 percent over the previous year. Among them, foreign investment on account in manufacturing industry and strategic emerging industries accounted for 41.2 percent and 60.4 percent of the total foreign investment on account in the whole city, respectively. Twenty-six new Taiwanese-invested projects were set up, up 44.4 percent year on year. The contracted Taiwanese investment added up to USD 480 million and Taiwanese investment on account totaled USD 94.171 million.
7. The structure of fiscal revenue and expenditure was improved and the financial market operated steadily.
In the first half of 2019, the general public budget revenue added up to 14.585 billion yuan, up 5.1 percent year on year. Among them, tax revenue totaled 11.877 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent year on year, and accounted for 81.4 percent of the city's general public budget revenue, up 0.6 percentage points over the same period last year. General public budget expenditure added up to 24.742 billion yuan, up 11.0 percent year on year. Among them, livelihood expenditure totaled 18.284 billion yuan, accounting for 73.9 percent of the city's general public budget expenditure.
At the end of June, the RMB deposit balance of financial institutions in the whole city was 408.795 billion yuan, an increase of 13.0 percent over the same period last year. Among them, the household deposit balance totaled 177.481 billion yuan, an increase of 12.0 percent. The balance of RMB loans of financial institutions was 369.349 billion yuan, an increase of 20.2 percent. Among them, manufacturing loans amounted to 26.252 billion yuan, up 179 million yuan compared with the end of last month, and 960 million yuan compared with the beginning of the year, indicating that support to the real economy has increased.
8. Resident income grew steadily and employment situation was stable.
In the first half of 2019, the per capita disposable income of all residents in Huai'an was 15,372 yuan, an increase of 9.1 percent year on year. This growth rate was 0.3 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, higher than the average in the whole country and province, and was 1.9 percentage points faster than the GDP growth, ranking first in Jiangsu. The ratio of per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents was 2.04, which was 0.01 less than the same period last year. It was 0.7 and 0.1 points, respectively, lower than the national and provincial average, indicating that the income gap between urban and rural areas in Huai'an was further narrowed. In terms of income composition, wage income was 8,696 yuan, an increase of 9.0 percent. Net operating income was 3,159 yuan, rose by 7.1 percent. Net property income was 1,010 yuan, up 8.4 percent. And net transfer income 2,508 yuan, an increase of 12.1 percent.
Newly registered market entities in Huai'an added up to 41,900, up 10.8 percent year on year. Among them, newly registered private enterprises totaled 8,530, down 9.4 percent year on year. Individual businesses amounted to 32,100, up 18.8 percent year on year. 49,700 new urban jobs were created in the whole city, 26,300 urban people were re-employed, 15,400 rural labor force was newly transferred. The registered urban unemployment rate was 1.81 percent.
Overall, in the first half of 2019 Huai'an's economy maintained generally stable growth while making further progress, with many indicators ranking high in Jiangsu or northern Jiangsu. But we must also be aware that we are facing a complicated and challenging macro environment, and downward pressure on economy continues to increase. Next, we should closely adhere to the requirements of high-quality leapfrog development, and make every effort to ensure stable foundation, promote key projects, support and strengthen areas of weakness, striving to promote the steady and far-reaching economic and social development of Huai'an.