China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2019 to about 45.09 trillion yuan (roughly 6.55 trillion U.S. dollars), data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Monday.

Specifically, the GDP increased 6.4 percent in the first quarter and 6.2 percent in the second quarter year-on-year.

NBS spokesperson Mao Shengyong said that the GDP growth of 6.3 percent in the first half year was nothing easy amid domestic downward pressure as well as the slowing of world trade. China has firmly promoted reform and innovation, optimized the business environment and reduced taxes and fees on a large scale to support the market instead of resorting to a massive stimulus.

In terms of industries, the added value of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries reached 2.320 trillion yuan, 17.998 trillion yuan and 24.774 trillion yuan, up 3.0, 5.8 and 7.0 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Industrial production basically stable

In the first half of the year, the value-added industrial output of major industrial enterprises increased 6.0 percent year-on-year, 0.5 percentage points lower than in the first quarter.

In June alone, the added value of industrial enterprises secured a gain of 6.3 percent year-on-year, 1.3 percentage points higher than the previous month.

The added value of state-owned enterprises increased 5.0 percent year-on-year, and that for joint-stock enterprises increased 7.3 percent year-on-year.

Emerging industries with strategic importance and high-tech manufacturing industries stand out in the economic performance of the first half-year. The added value of industrial strategic industries enjoyed an increase of 7.7 percent year-on-year. The added value of high-tech manufacturing industry expanded 9.0 percent year-on-year, 3.0 percentage points higher than other major industrial enterprises, accounting for 13.8 percent of all major industries.

The service industry continued to maintain a good momentum in the first half of the year. The value added of information transmission, software and information technology services, leasing and business services, transportation, warehousing and postal services all registered significant growth.

The output of new energy vehicles and solar cells surged 34.6 percent and 20.1 percent respectively, year-on-year.

Investment grows steadily

The investment in the first half of this year grew steadily as real estate and fixed-asset (excluding rural household) investment expanded 10.9 and 5.8 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, respectively.

The growth of real estate investment was slower than the 11.8-percent expansion recorded in the first quarter while the fixed-asset one was 0.2 percentage points faster than the growth in the first five months. 

The investment in high-tech service rose 13.5 percent year-on-year, 7.7 percentage points higher than that of the total investment.

Retail sales of consumer goods register sound growth

Retail sales of consumer goods rose 8.4 percent for the first half of the year and the volume for June rose 9.8 percent, eclipsing expectations for a slight pullback to 8.3 percent.

Online retail sales maintained robust growth, surging 17.8 percent in the first six months, with physical commodity sales growing 21.6 percent from one year earlier.

Income increased and new jobs created

National per capita disposable income shot up by 6.5 percent in real terms to 15,294 yuan in the January-June period, with urban households posting a real rise of 5.7 percent to reach 21,342 yuan and rural counterpart by 6.6 percent to 7,778 yuan.

In the first half of the year, 7.37 million new jobs were created in urban areas, completing 67 percent of the annual target. At the end of the second quarter, the total number of rural migrant workers stood at 182.48 million, an increase of 2.26 million over the same period last year, up 1.3 percent year-on-year.

Foreign trade rises in the first half year

The total value of imports and exports saw accelerated growth for the first half of this year at about 14.7 trillion yuan, with exports increasing by 6.1 percent year-on-year to 8.0 trillion yuan and imports climbing 1.4 percent to 6.7 trillion yuan.

The country's half-year exports and imports with major trading partners also witnessed a surge.

The total value of imports and exports by private enterprises expanded 11.0 percent, accounting for 41.7 percent of the total trade value.