It has also brought unprecedented impact to the development of China. In the first quarter of this year, the gross domestic product decreased by 6.8% year-on-year, and the main macroeconomic indicators showed a significant decline. Macro-economic data actually reflect the changes of micro-subjects and market environment.
First, China's negative economic growth in the first quarter is not historically comparable. To analyze the economic situation in the first quarter, we should comprehensively measure it against the background of the once-in-a-century epidemic. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 severely inhibited normal economic activities, and the economies of many countries in the world were in a state of shutdown and semi-shutdown, and international economic and trade exchanges almost stopped.
The economic operation during the epidemic period is incomparable with that under the normal production and living order. Therefore, the economic downturn in the first quarter of this year is not a normal reflection of the fundamentals of China's economic development, but the result of sudden and serious events.
Second, China's economy has withstood the unprecedented test brought by the epidemic. This epidemic is a major public health emergency with the fastest spread, the widest infection range and the most difficult prevention and control since the founding of New China. Faced with the impact of the epidemic, we quickly and decisively adopted unconventional prevention and control measures, which not only stopped the spread of the local epidemic in a short time.
It also effectively guaranteed the basic life of 65.438+0.4 billion people and maintained the security and stability of social order. In the process of epidemic prevention and control, we will inevitably pay a certain price, but life is priceless. Compared with people's life safety and health, the price of short-term economic pressure must be borne and worth paying.
Third, the normal order of the current economic operation is being restored in an orderly manner. At present, under the premise of doing a good job in the prevention and control of normalized epidemic situation, all localities are promoting the process of returning to work, production and business in an orderly manner. Judging from the situation since March, various economic indicators are gradually improving. In terms of production, physical indicators such as electricity consumption and freight volume have obviously picked up, and the industrial decline in March has obviously narrowed 12.4 percentage points compared with the previous two months.
The decline of service industry production index narrowed by 3.9 percentage points, and electricity consumption in the first half of April increased by 1.5% year-on-year. On the demand side, domestic demand is constantly recovering. In the first quarter, the decline in investment and consumption decreased by 8.4 and 65,438 0.5 percentage points respectively compared with the previous two months. In terms of expectations, the manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) in March.
The non-manufacturing business activity index rose by 16.3 and 22.7 percentage points respectively, both of which were above the threshold. The International Monetary Fund also pointed out that the recovery trend of China's economy is encouraging.
Fourth, a strong domestic market is playing a strong supporting role. China has a large market of 654.38+0.4 billion people, a complete industrial system, abundant human resources, and huge market depth and room for manoeuvre. In response to the epidemic, many enterprises responded to the needs of prevention and control, and quickly carried out technological transformation and capacity expansion, production transformation and expansion.
The production and sales of some industrial and agricultural products that meet the basic needs of the masses have maintained positive growth, and the medical, health and epidemic prevention industries have developed rapidly. New formats such as online classroom, online office and telemedicine grew rapidly, and the added value of information transmission, software and information technology services increased significantly 13.2% year-on-year.
A number of major foreign investment projects are being accelerated, and some internationally renowned enterprises are also accelerating the negotiation process of setting up regional headquarters in China. These new growth points and growth poles of contrarian growth all show the great development potential of China's economy.
Fifth, there is still a lot of room for macro hedging policy, and it will continue to exert its strength. In response to the impact of the epidemic, in the previous stage, various localities and departments successively issued a series of policies and measures to help enterprises, stabilize employment and expand domestic demand, and these policies are being gradually implemented. We also noticed that it was affected by the "second shock" of the international epidemic.
The domestic supply and demand cycle has not been completely smooth, some enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, still face great difficulties in production and operation, and the problem of the closure of some individual industrial and commercial households is still outstanding. We share the same feelings about the difficulties and challenges encountered by various market players. In the next step, we will, in accordance with the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, work with relevant departments,
In terms of finance, investment and consumption, employment and people's livelihood, we will promptly launch a number of more powerful and targeted policies and measures to help enterprises tide over the difficulties, improve their ability to survive and develop, and effectively stabilize economic operation. "Overall, this epidemic has not and will not change the long-term positive fundamentals of China's economy, and the impact and impact brought by the epidemic are phased."
Yan Pengcheng emphasized that we believe that relying on the strong domestic market support, smoothing the economic cycle through macro-policy hedging, and giving full play to the role of various market players, we are fully confident, capable and qualified to overcome the immediate difficulties, push the economic development back to the normal track as soon as possible, and complete the objectives and tasks of economic and social development throughout the year.