Consumption accounted for record 60% of China’s GDP in first half of 2015

BEIJING - Consumption accounted for a record 60% of China’s GDP in the first half of the year, a strong indication that the rebalancing of the economy has gained momentum. The not-so-good news is that there was a sharp decline in investment growth due to a weak property market and manufacturing sector, in addition to insufficient funding from local governments.

Consumption has played an increasingly important role in China’s economy as the Government transitions to a greater focus on its tertiary industries. Consumption contributed 48.2% of GDP in 2013 and 50.2% in 2014.

Researcher Zhang Changchun of China’s National Development and Reform Commission said the growing contribution from consumption is in line with the country’s goal for economic restructuring, “but it would be better if such a shift is based on growth of both consumption and investment”.

Overall fixed-asset investment rose 11.4% on-year during the first half of  2015, a fall of 2.1% from the first half of 2014. Zhang said this suggests continued sluggish growth of investment in coming months due to ongoing funding pressures from local governments. www.webershandwik.cn (ATI).