'Golden week' holiday boom sign of strong recovery momentum
China Daily | Updated: 2023-10-10 07:45
During the just-concluded Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday, or the eight-day "golden week" holiday, China displayed signs of economic recovery, says an article on the website of Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
This was the first week-long holiday after the country optimized its COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures. Domestic and foreign institutions had earlier predicted that as the pace of China's economic recovery accelerates, its domestic consumer market will usher in a bustling scene.
That China's consumer market displayed such vitality during this holiday is because people's travel and shopping demands have finally been unleashed. On the other hand, governments at all levels have introduced a series of measures to restore and expand consumption.
The prosperity of the holiday is an important sign of how China's economy is stabilizing and recovering. The great resilience and vitality of China's economy is in stark contrast with the still lackluster world economic recovery and the grim external environment.
In the first half of this year, China's GDP grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year, taking the lead among the world's major economies. In particular, since August, China's industrial and service production has accelerated and domestic demand continues to grow. The country's manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose for four consecutive months till September and returned to the expansion range for the first time since April.
At a time when consumers and businesses in Europe and the United States are facing funding issues because of interest rate hikes, the greater vitality of China's economy brings hope to the global economy. Some international institutions such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have also raised their projections for China's economic growth this year.
The international environment facing China's economy is still complex and grim. The overlapping of structural contradictions and cyclical factors means the foundation for China's sustained economic recovery still needs to be consolidated.
However, all signs show the fundamentals of the strong resilience, great potential and long-term improvement of China's economy have not changed and the positive factors in China's economic development will continue to increase.
- CHINA MEDIA GROUP