July 15, 2013
Translated by Pang Lei

China's gross domestic product (GDP) registered a year-on-year increase of 7.5 percent reaching 24.8 trillion yuan (approximately 4 trillion US dollars) over the first six months of 2013, according to Sheng Laiyun, the spokesman for the NBS, who read the bureau\'s report on the economic figures for the second quarter at an official press conference in Beijing earlier this morning.

The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than that 7.7 percent year-on-year growth registered in the first quarter of the year, and 0.1 percentage points lower than the 7.6 percent growth in the second quarter of 2012.

The GDP growth figure for the first half of 2013 was 7.6 percent, 0.2 percentage points lower than the 7.8 percent growth measured in the first six months of 2012.

The GDP growth figure for the second quarter was largely in keeping with what market analysts were forecasting.

Earlier this year, the government had set its annual economic growth target at around 7.5 percent for 2013.

The NBS also revealed data on the country's industrial output, income, investment, consumption and trade earlier today.

In the first half of 2013, urban households earned an average disposable income of 13,649 yuan, a nominal increase of 9.1 percent over the same period last year or 6.5 percent when you take prices into account.

The average per capita cash income of rural households was 4,817 yuan over the first three months of the year, a nominal growth of 11.9 percent on the same period last year, but only 9.2 percent once you take inflation into account, which was 0.1 percentage point lower than that in the first quarter

The median of per capita disposable income of urban households was 11,938 yuan, up by 9.2 percent; while that of per capita cash income of rural households was 4,171 yuan, up by 13.0 percent year-on-year.

The number of rural migrant workers at the end of June was 171.11 million, which was 4.44 million more than that in the previous year, or up by 2.7 percent. The monthly income of migrant workers was 2,477 yuan, up by 12.6 percent.

China's industrial value-added output was up 9.3 percent in the first half, when compared to the first six months of last year, a 1.2 percentage point decrease on the pace of growth during the first six months of 2012, the NBS said. In June, the total value added of the industrial enterprises above designated size was up by 8.9 percent year-on-year.

The profits of large-scale industrial enterprises expanded 12.3 percent in the first five months of the year when compared to the same period last year, reaching 2.08 trillion yuan. In the first five months of 2012 the profits of large-scale industrial enterprises fell by 2.4 percent year-on-year.

China's urban fixed-asset investment rose 20.1 percent (or 20.1 percent after accounting for inflation) from a year earlier to reach 18.13 trillion yuan in the first half of 2013, which was 0.8 percentage points slower than the rate of growth in the first quarter, or 0.3 percentage points lower than in the same period of 2012.

Investment in real estate climbed 20.23percent over the first six months of the year (or 20.3 percent if price factors are taken into account), reaching a total of 3.6 trillion yuan. This was 0.1 percentage points higher than the pace of growth registered in the first quarter, or 3.7 percentage points higher than in the same period of 2012.

Last week, China's statistics bureau also released updated numbers for the country's consumer price index (CPI). China's CPI rose 2.7 percent in June from a year earlier, a substantial increase on the pace of growth registered in May, when the index rose by 2.1 percent. Over the first three half of 2013, the CPI rose by 2.4 percent, down 0.9 percentage points from the 3.3 percent rise in CPI over the first half of 2012.

Links and Sources
National Bureau of Statistics: China\'s Economy in the First Half of 2013: Stable and Moderate Growth
NBS: 上半年国民经济运行总体平稳 稳中有进
Economic Observer Online: China\'s CPI Up 2.4% in First Half of 2013
Economic Observer Online: China\'s GDP Up 7.7% in First Quarter
National Bureau of Statistics: Overall Economic Development was Stable in the First Half of 2012