Financial institutions upbeat on China economy

Overseas financial institutions have expressed their confidence in the prospects of China's economy, as the country's high-quality growth efforts are gradually paying off.

The latest data from the National Bureau of Statistics show that China's gross domestic product expanded 5 percent year-on-year in the first half.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, GDP grew 0.7 percent in the second quarter, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of positive growth.

The Chinese economy's comparative advantage largely comes from research and innovation, Wu Yibing, head of China unit for Singapore's state investment company Temasek, said. In the past, China's strength in manufacturing was usually attributed to its abundant labor force and high production efficiency, said Wu.

In the first half, the country's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, increased by 6 percent year-on-year, according to the NBS data.

A breakdown of the data showed that the output of the equipment manufacturing sector, which took up one-third of the overall industrial output, climbed 7.8 percent in the period.

The high-tech manufacturing sector posted strong growth, with its output up 8.7 percent in the first half.

The country's production of service robots, smartphones and new energy vehicles surged 22.8 percent, 11.8 percent and 34.3 percent, respectively, in the first six months.

Bloomberg said in a recent report that China's long-term quest for high-quality growth is starting to bear fruit.

"Advances in electric vehicles, solar panels and other high-tech industries have helped keep economic expansion within reach of its targeted pace of around 5 percent," said the report.

Apart from industrial output and high-end manufacturing, investment and exports are also seen as the highlights of China's economy by the institutions.

The effects of large-scale equipment upgrades and trade-in of consumer goods continue to manifest, driving effective investment along with the issuance of local government special bonds and ultra-long special treasury bonds, said Ji Mo, chief China economist of DBS Group Research.

Data show that China's investment in infrastructure construction during the January-June period rose 5.4 percent from the previous year, while manufacturing investment increased 9.5 percent. The country's net exports of goods and services drove GDP growth by 0.7 percentage point in the same period.

China has become increasingly important as a major global supplier of goods and has continued to expand its market share despite trade restriction measures, said Liu Jing, an economist at HSBC.

The accelerated development of new quality productive forces, the continuous release of policy effects and the recovery of external demand have supported China's economy, but further reform and opening-up are needed in the face of challenges such as insufficient effective demand and a complex external environment, multiple experts from the overseas financial institutions said.