China’s gross domestic product (GDP) posted a growth of 5.2 percent year on year to 126.06 trillion yuan ($17.71 trillion) in 2023, higher than the target of around 5 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.

China’s economy in 2023 grew by over 6 trillion yuan, equivalent to the annual GDP of a medium-sized country, said Kang Yi, head of NBS, at a press conference.

In 2023, the Chinese economy encountered a complex international environment. However, the NBS said the national economy witnessed the momentum of recovery and deepened reform.

China’s value-added industrial output went up 4.6 percent year on year in 2023, with a 6.8 percent hike in the value added of equipment manufacturing. Bruce Pang, chief economist of JLL Greater China, noted that the manufacturing sector has continued to provide strong support for the country’s steady economic growth and structural reform.

The value added of services went up by 5.8 percent over the previous year, while retail sales climbed 7.2 percent year on year to 47.15 trillion yuan.

Kang said that the service sector and consumption are playing a more prominent role as the main engines of economic growth, indicating the upgrading and optimization of China’s economic structure.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate in China stood at an average of 5.2 percent in 2023, down 0.4 percentage point from 2022.

Fixed asset investment went up 3 percent year on year in 2023. High-tech industries saw strong growth, with investment up 10.3 percent year on year. Specifically, investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services expanded by 9.9 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively. 

Investment continues to contribute steadily to economic growth, supporting the optimization and balancing of the economic structure in terms of industrial distribution, said Pang.