China: GDP Will Also Grow in Third Quarter of 2024

Also in the third quarter of 2024, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.6 percent year-on-year. According to official data released Friday, October 18, by National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC), “the data marks a slight slowdown from the previous quarter, a period in which China’s GDP grew 4.7% from April-June 2023.”

According to international analysts, GDP that is “gaining momentum” reflects “the ongoing crisis in the real estate sector and weakness in domestic consumption in China.” Moreover, this figure is lower than China’s official strategic economic growth target for 2024, set by the Chinese government “at around 5 percent.”

As the China’s Bureau of Statistics wrote in its regular statement, the world’s second-largest economy looked “generally stable with steady progress” in the third quarter of 2024, adding that the effects of the government’s stimulus measures “continue to manifest themselves, with key indicators recently showing positive changes” despite an “increasingly complex and challenging external environment.”

In the latest statement, Beijing cited economic tensions with the United States and the European Union that have blocked the export of many strategic Chinese goods, including electric vehicles, photovoltaic panels, and electronics. To resolve the dispute with Brussels, China has formally invited a team of technical experts from the European Union to visit the country “as soon as possible” for face-to-face consultations on tariffs levied on imports of Chinese electric cars. “Beijing has completed all necessary preparations for the visit and is awaiting a response from its European counterpart,” said He Yadong, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, according to whom “China has shown utmost sincerity and flexibility in consultations, while the two sides have made significant progress in certain areas.”