(Yicai) July 15 -- China's gross domestic product moved up by 5 percent in the first half. In the first three months of this year, the boost was 5.3 percent.

"Overall, the national economy has continued to improve in the first half in a stable manner," a spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics announced today.

The gauge of productivity expanded slower at 4.7 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. The NBS attributed the weaker growth to short-term factors such as extreme weather and floods, noting it also reflected rising challenges, especially from insufficient effective demand and unsmooth economic flow at home.

The slowdown over the past three months is also partly caused by a high base. The GDP jumped 6.3 percent year-over-year in the same period of last year, the highest surge that year.

Retail Sales

In the first half, total retail sales of consumer goods tallied CNY23.6 trillion (USD3.3 trillion), up 3.7 percent. In June, such sales increased by 2 percent from a year ago but fell 0.1 percent from a month earlier.

At present, the nation's prominent problems include insufficient domestic demand, unstable expectations from micro-entities, and sluggish business confidence, said Wu Chaoming, deputy director of the Chasing International Economic Institute. Moreover, property prices and stock markets have not stopped falling, which means that residents' wealth could continue contracting for some time, he added.

Next, China should work on stabilizing employment, said Zhang Yi, head of the NBS' department of household surveys. The nation should strive to boost residents' incomes to achieve a stable increase in consumption, Zhang added. 

Although residents' ability and confidence to consume needs to be improved, many factors support sustained growth, such as favorable policies that promote consumption, Liu Aihua, chief economist at the stats bureau, said earlier. Moreover, new fields such as digital, health-oriented, and green lifestyles are growing quickly, and the level and supply capacity of the market are rising gradually, Liu added.

Fixed-Asset Investment

In the first half, China's fixed-asset investments totaled CNY24.54 trillion (USD3.44 trillion), up 3.9 percent from a year ago. Among them, investments in infrastructure rose 5.4 percent, those in manufacturing jumped 9.5 percent, and those in property development slumped 10.1 percent. When excluding real estate from the total, investments expanded by 8.5 percent. 

Several regions have been actively advancing the launch of projects by using proceeds coming from additional government bonds, maintaining stable growth in infrastructure investments, said Zhai Shanqing, head of the related department. Investments in infrastructure rose more than average, driving a 1.2 percentage point growth in the total number, Zhai added.

Private investment is recovering, rising by 0.1 percent in the first half, amid a series of policies to encourage such non-public spending. When excluding real estate, private investment projects jumped almost 7 percent. 

Next, China will continue to boost effective investment by promoting major projects, industrial upgrades, and equipment renewals, while stimulating private capital, according to the NBS. 

Editors: Shi Yi, Emmi Laine