By Gabriel Ameh
China said its economy showed steady resilience in the first half of 2026, with gross domestic product (GDP) rising 4.7 percent year on year to 69.6 trillion yuan, as the country entered a new five-year development period.
Officials said the performance reflected the strength of China’s industrial base, stable supply chains and growing momentum in sectors such as high-end manufacturing, the digital economy and modern services.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the growth rate translated into an additional 3.6 trillion yuan in economic output in the first six months of the year.
According to the bureau, the country’s surveyed urban unemployment rate fell to 5 percent in June from 5.1 percent in May, while per capita disposable income rose 5.2 percent year on year in the first half.
Industrial activity also remained firm. Value-added industrial output increased by 5.4 percent, while total retail sales of goods and services rose by 2.7 percent in the same period.
Officials at the China Economic Roundtable, an all-media talk show hosted by Xinhua News Agency, said the result was significant given the difficult global environment and growing external uncertainty.
Wang Guanhua, an NBS official, said the “hard-won achievements” had laid a solid foundation for China’s 2026 economic and social targets and provided a strong start for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Yang Te, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said the growth rate placed China among the world’s fastest-growing major economies and remained within the country’s annual target range of around 4.5 to 5 percent.
He said China’s industrial and supply chains stayed resilient despite external shocks, while energy supply was kept stable to support business activity and daily life.
Yang added that China continued to serve as a stabilizer in the global economy.
Officials also pointed to the rise of new growth drivers as a major feature of the current economic shift. Wang said the transition from old to new growth engines was not limited to a few industries, but was spreading across the broader economy.
NBS data showed that new growth drivers contributed more than 40 percent of economic growth in the first half of 2026.
Strategic emerging industries continued to expand. China’s integrated circuit output reached 279.8 billion units in the first six months of the year, averaging more than 1.5 billion chips a day.
Huang Hanquan, head of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the NDRC, said China had moved into the top tier of global artificial intelligence innovation.
He projected that AI-related industries could grow by more than 30 percent this year, adding momentum to the country’s economic transformation.
China’s 15th Five-Year Plan, outlined in March, focuses on industrial upgrading and the development of new quality productive forces as part of its long-term growth strategy.
