China releases new index on growth momentum

HANGZHOU - China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) published on Thursday a new index to show the ups and downs of the country's new growth drivers.

The newly released index consists of five sub-indexes, covering economic vitality, digital economy, restructuring, knowledge capacity and innovation.

China's new economic momentum development index stood at 129.0 in 2015, up 29 percent year on year, according to Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS.

"After five years of exploration and application, China has established a statistical system that can reflect the development of the country's new growth drivers and industries," said Ning at the ninth meeting of the heads of the national statistical institutions of BRICS in Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province.

The system highlighted new industries and business models in statistical standards and accounting methods, according to Ning.

The index was included in a development report on China's new economic momentum, which was published for the first time by the NBS at the meeting.

The two-day meeting opened in Hangzhou Thursday, shortly after the ending of a three-day BRICS Summit in Xiamen in southeastern China's Fujian province.