China’s GDP growth last year was worth more than Australia’s whole economy
- Beijing plays down concerns about a slowdown by highlighting the size and scale of its growth last year
- Per capita gross domestic product close to US$10,000 benchmark after 6.6 growth rate last year
China’s added gross domestic product last year exceeded the value of Australia’s total output, the country’s statistics agency said as it sought to highlight the country’s economic resilience.
In 2018, China’s economic growth rate slowed to the lowest level in 28 years – a fact that has fanned concerns about the country’s economic outlook.
In response Beijing is trying to direct attention to the absolute value of its growth and highlight the country’s ongoing role as the engine of the world economy.
Last year’s growth figure was still a healthy 6.6 per cent – well above those of the G7 economies – and China accounted for around 30 per cent of the worldwide increase in gross domestic product.
According to data compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics, the value of China’s economy, the second biggest in the world, reached US$13.6 trillion last year.
“China remains a source of power for the global economy,” Sheng Laiyun, a deputy head of the agency, wrote in an official “explanation” of China’s economic data last week.
“China’s additional economic output was worth US$1.4 trillion [last year], which is equivalent to the total economic size of Australia in 2017.”
Australia’s total output was US$1.32 trillion in 2017, according to the World Bank, which has yet to publish data for last year.