Sichuan's GDP grew by 6.5% in the first three quarters, and the growth rate in the third quarter hit a new quarterly high in recent years

Press conference scene Image source: provided by the organizer

In the first three quarters of 2023, Sichuan's completed GDP was 4,338.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.5% at comparable prices. Among them, the added value of the primary industry was 494.7 billion yuan, an increase of 3.8%; the added value of the secondary industry was 1.52024 billion yuan, an increase of 5.8%; The added value of the tertiary industry was 2.32376 billion yuan, an increase of 7.7%.

On October 19, the Information Office of the Sichuan Provincial Government held a press conference to announce the economic operation in the first three quarters of 2023. Zeng Junlin, deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Statistics and spokesperson, said that on the whole, Sichuan's economy continued to recover rapidly in the first three quarters, and the good trend continued to consolidate.

He specifically mentioned that the growth rate of many indicators in the province hit a new high in the third quarter. According to preliminary estimates, Sichuan's economy grew by 8.5% in the third quarter, a new quarterly growth rate this year and even in recent years. However, it should be noted that the province's economy is still facing blockages such as weak expectations and insufficient demand, and the foundation for recovery still needs to be consolidated.

Industrial production is good, and the added value of green and low-carbon advantageous industries increased by 14.4%;

Zeng Junlin said that Sichuan's economic growth rate lagged behind the whole country in the first quarter, to equal the whole country in the first half of the year, and then exceeded the whole country in the third quarter, indicating that the economy is "continuing to recover and accelerating recovery." ”

In addition to GDP growth, since the beginning of this year, the growth rate of other major economic indicators has also continued to recover steadily.

In the first three quarters, the added value of industries above designated size in Sichuan Province increased by 6.8% year-on-year, and the product sales rate of industrial enterprises above designated size was 97.1%. The growth rate of industrial added value above designated size increased from 0.4% in the first quarter to 4.3% in the first half of the year, and reached 6.8% in the first three quarters. It is worth mentioning that the added value of industrial industry in August hit a new high in recent years, increasing by 22%.

Compared with the whole country, the growth rate of industrial added value above designated size in Sichuan in the first three quarters was also significantly faster than that of the whole country, 2.8 percentage points higher than that of the whole country.

In Zeng Junlin's view, the bright performance of the industrial economy is also due to the continuous expansion of growth. 25 of the 41 major industry categories achieved growth, and the industry growth area reached 61%, an increase of 7.3 percentage points over the first half of the year; key enterprises made outstanding contributions, and the added value of large and medium-sized enterprises in the province increased by 12%, making outstanding contributions to the province's above-scale industries.

In addition to "continuous recovery", Zeng Junlin summarized another keyword of the economic order in the first three quarters "more dynamic".

Specifically, the added value of Sichuan's green and low-carbon advantageous industries increased by 14.4% in the first three quarters, the pace of green transformation accelerated, and new development momentum continued to accumulate. From the output of major industrial products, natural gas increased by 8.7% year-on-year, monocrystalline silicon increased by 115.5%, polysilicon increased by 73.7%, automotive lithium-ion power batteries increased by 51.3%, color TV increased by 32.5%, generator sets increased by 22.1%, and steel increased by 18.9%.

From the perspective of power, the added value of manufacturing above designated size increased by 7.3% in the first three quarters, 0.5 percentage points faster than all industries above designated size, showing that the resilience of the industrial chain and supply chain has been enhanced, and the growth of the real economy is good.

Zeng Junlin also mentioned several other sets of data that show the improvement of the industry. Sichuan's electricity consumption maintained medium-high growth, with the growth rate of electricity consumption reaching 21.6% in September, of which industrial electricity consumption increased by 21%; Market expectations have improved, and the manufacturing PMI ended its five-month contraction in September and returned to expansion territory; The employment situation continued to improve, and the urban survey unemployment rate in the third quarter fell compared with the first quarter and the second quarter.

"But it should also be noted that behind the rapid recovery there is also the 'dividend' of the low base of the previous year, and the two-year average growth rate of the main indicators is still not high." Zeng Junlin believes that problems such as insufficient demand and weak expectations in Sichuan in the fourth quarter still exist, and coupled with the impact of the high base in the fourth quarter of last year, it is still necessary to continue to strengthen efforts to achieve the expected goals for the whole year.

Consumption accelerates recovery Food and beverage revenue grew by double digits for six consecutive months

In the past Mid-Autumn Festival National Day "Super Long Golden Week", the popularity of Sichuan's consumer market is high, and many places are "difficult to find a vote" and "one room is difficult to find". The consumption data of the first three quarters confirms that the Sichuan consumer goods market is accelerating its recovery.

In the first three quarters of this year, Sichuan's service industry accelerated its growth, and the added value of the tertiary industry increased by 7.7% year-on-year.

Among them, the added value of wholesale and retail industry increased by 9.0%, transportation, warehousing and postal industry increased by 11.2%, accommodation and catering industry increased by 11.8%, financial industry increased by 7.3%, real estate industry increased by 1.2%, information transmission, software and information technology services increased by 9.6%, and leasing and business services increased by 12.2%.

On the demand side, in the first three quarters, Sichuan achieved a total retail sales of social consumer goods of 1.89406 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%, "the advantage of leading the country has been further expanded", Zeng Junlin said.

Especially in catering consumption, Sichuan's contact consumption accelerated its recovery in the first three quarters, with catering revenue of 253.92 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.1%, 3.1 percentage points faster than the first half of the year, and maintaining double-digit growth for six consecutive months.

From the perspective of hot commodities, key commodities have strong support, and retail sales of 11 of the 16 major categories of key commodities above designated size have increased. Consumer demand for upgrades continued to grow, with cosmetics increasing by 13.3%, gold and silver jewelry by 14.6%, sporting and entertainment goods and communication equipment by 12.1% and 10.8% respectively.

As a "stable market" of travel products, automobile retail sales increased by 9.5%, of which new energy vehicle retail sales increased by 67.2%, continuing rapid growth.

Zeng Junlin said that the consumer market performed well in the first three quarters, but there was still a gap from normal growth. The total retail sales of consumer goods increased by only 4.4% on average in the two years, 5.9 percentage points lower than the same period in 2019. In general, the province's consumer goods market will maintain steady growth and steady expansion in the next stage.