BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Despite a mild decline in the economic growth target in 2018, Chinese economy is expected to increase 6.3 percent in 2019, predicted by a UN report.
The following economic data signals the stabilization of China's economic development in 2019.
---Great potential in service consumption
China's total retail sales of consumer goods rose 9 percent year on year to 38.1 trillion yuan in 2018, showing the great potential of domestic consumption.
Data of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) shows that during the period of Chinese New Year in 2019, the country's retail and catering enterprises earned sales revenue of about 1.005 trillion yuan and the transactions via the China UnionPay network totaled 1.16 trillion yuan.
In addition to the catering, cultural entertainment and tourism consumption also grew rapidly, the highlight of consumption during the period.
Data of China's Meituan Dianping, an online food delivery-to-ticketing services platform, shows that ticket sales in major scenic spots in China increased by more than 30 percent year-on-year during the Chinese New Year period.
Statistics show that in 2018, the proportion of residents' service spending in total consumption rose to 49.5 percent.
--- Booming small and micro entrepreneurship
In recent years, the Chinese authorities have rolled out a raft of favorable policies to support establishment and development of the small and micro enterprises.
According to the data from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), in 2018, the procedures of corporate establishment in China were optimized with less and simplified steps and shortened time. To be specific, a new firm can be established within three working days in Wuhan Development Zone, central China's Hubei Province. Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province proposed to cut the time of corporate establishment to 2.5 working days this year.
While helping the enterprises reduce the costs caused by rules and regulations, the authorities are also encouraging development of the inclusive finance to bring convenience to the small and micro businesses in China.
Outstanding loans to small and micro business had amounted to more than 6 million yuan by the end of December of 2018, according to data of MyBank under Ant Financial Service Group.
--- Foreign capital continues flowing into A-share market
Foreign capital has continued to flow into China's A-share stock market since the beginning of 2019, hitting record highs in more than four months.
A total of more than 60 billion yuan of net inflows was invested through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect in January of 2019.
The net flows through the two stock connect programs even hit 100 billion yuan since the beginning of 2019.
The UBS Securities estimated that if the inclusion factor for the yuan-denominated A-shares in MSCI indexes increased from 5 percent to 20 percent, about 56 billion U.S. dollars will flow to the A-share market. After the A-shares added into the global equity benchmarks of the FTSE Russell, about 10 billion U.S. dollars are expected to flow to the A-share market in coming 18 months.
--- BRI continues supporting China's foreign trade
In the midst of a complex external environment, China's economy still made a good start in the foreign trade.
China's goods trade of imports and exports rose 8.7 percent year on year in January to 2.73 trillion yuan, customs data showed.
Exports to the countries along the Belt and Road (B&R) routes registered faster-than-average growth, with the combined volume standing at 770.8 billion yuan, up 11.5 percent year on year.
Infrastructure connectivity has also given impetus to the B&R construction. For example, the China-Europe freight trains made 6,300 trips in 2018, surging 73 percent from 2017, connecting with 49 cities in 15 of European countries.
The diversified foreign trade structure will help China to maintain stable development in exports, according to an economist from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) International. (Edited by Jiang Feifan)