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<img src='https://news.cgtn.com/news/2024-08-02/China-s-foreign-trade-and-consumption-have-maintained-steady-growth-1vJPKUkrcQg/img/fee77176417d4ed1b5a0d994f56b7b06/fee77176417d4ed1b5a0d994f56b7b06.png' alt='Shanghai Lujiazui Business District, China, July 30, 2024. /CFP'
Since the beginning of this year, China has made steady progress in business activities, achieving high-quality development and making positive contributions to the national economy, said Li Yongsha, deputy international trade negotiator of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), during a press conference on Friday.
Li stressed that the consumption has maintained steady growth. Total retail sales of consumer goods reached 23.6 trillion yuan ($3.3 trillion) in the first half of this year, up by 3.7 percent.
Foreign trade has also continued to grow. Imports and exports of goods and services increased by 6.1 percent and 14 percent respectively in the first half of 2024, which contributed 13.9 percent to economic growth.
According to the ministry’s survey of 16,000 key foreign trade foreign-funded enterprises, more than 70 percent of them expect their exports to increase this year, Li added.
What’s more, overseas investment and cooperation grew rapidly. Foreign non-financial direct investment reached 516 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up by 19.5 percent. Additionally, the ministry held 12 round tables with foreign-funded enterprises to optimize the business environment. In the first half of this year, the number of newly established foreign-funded enterprises reached 27,000, and the actual use of foreign investment reached 498.9 billion yuan.
Li said the ministry will expand the institutional opening up and deepen the reform of the foreign trade system. The foreign investment and outbound investment management system will be further opened up, to make new and greater contributions to the promotion of Chinese modernization, Li added.
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