At a press conference held by the National Development and Reform Commission in October, Zuo Gang, deputy director of the NDRC's Department of National Economy, stated that in the first three quarters China's economy withstood pressure and made progress while maintaining stability, with growth drivers turning toward innovation and the structure improving, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality, which can be summarized in three words: stability, innovation, and resilience.
Stability means the macroeconomy has advanced steadily. This is mainly reflected in the following: economic growth remained within a reasonable range, with GDP expanding 4.6% year on year in the first three quarters, including 4.5% growth in the third quarter, up 0.2 percentage points from the second quarter. The employment and price situation was generally stable, with 10.52 million new urban jobs created, fulfilling 87.7% of the annual target; in the first three quarters, CPI and PPI rose 0.9% and 2.3% year on year respectively, maintaining a moderate upward trend. Development efficiency continued to improve, with profits of industrial enterprises above designated size rising 15.7% year on year in the first eight months. Market expectations improved somewhat, with the September manufacturing PMI and the non-manufacturing business activity expectation index both rising above the boom-or-bust line.
Innovation means new growth drivers are accelerating. This is mainly reflected in the following: the driving role of new growth drivers continued to strengthen, with high-end manufacturing, the intelligent economy, and modern services contributing more than 40% to economic growth in the first three quarters. Innovative achievements emerged at a faster pace, with China ranking 10th in the 2026 Global Innovation Index. In key areas, breakthroughs were made in core technologies for integrated circuits, and mature-process capacity ranked first in the world. Cumulative global downloads of AI open-source large models exceeded 10 billion. Humanoid robot shipments accounted for more than 90% of the global total. In the first three quarters, outbound technology licensing for innovative drugs reached $130 billion, close to the full-year level of last year; the penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 53.6%. The industrial structure continued to improve, with value added in high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing growing 9 and 4.9 percentage points faster than all industrial enterprises above designated size, respectively, and the scale of the data industry exceeded 6 trillion yuan; value added in the services sector rose 5.2% year on year. The share of mechanical and electrical products in exports exceeded 60%. Energy consumption per unit of GDP continued to decline.
Resilience means economic resilience has been consolidated and enhanced. In recent years, we have continued to increase investment in "two major" construction, strengthened the reserve of important materials and the development of production and supply chain systems, and withstood the test of various external shocks this year, keeping economic development stable. This is mainly reflected in the following: food, energy, and production and supply chain security were effectively safeguarded, overcoming adverse effects such as frequent natural disasters, with summer grain and early rice achieving another bumper harvest and autumn grain harvest in sight. The construction of a new energy system showed results, with energy supply becoming more diversified and cleaner; amid sharp fluctuations in the global energy market, China's energy supply remained stable. The advantages of a complete production and supply chain and strong resilience became more prominent, effectively responding to the spillover effects of conflicts in the Middle East, not only better safeguarding the stability of domestic industrial development but also making positive contributions to maintaining global market stability. In the first three quarters, imports and exports grew 18.8% year on year, further accelerating in September. The share of manufacturing value added in GDP reached 25.7%.
Zuo Gang stated that currently the impact of external shocks is deepening, the domestic contradiction of strong supply and weak demand remains prominent, industry divergence is obvious, and the foundation and momentum for a stable economic recovery are relatively weak. The National Development and Reform Commission will, together with relevant departments, promptly introduce and implement incremental policies, promote the coordinated effects of existing and incremental policies, leverage the integrated effects of macro policies, and strive to achieve a good start for the "15th Five-Year Plan." On the one hand, further enhance the implementation effectiveness of existing policies. Coordinate the start of construction of major engineering projects under the "15th Five-Year Plan" and the implementation plans for the "six networks," make high-quality project preparations, sort out the progress of preliminary work for projects that have not yet started one by one, strengthen factor guarantees, improve approval efficiency, and coordinate with relevant parties to accelerate the disbursement of funds from new policy-based financial instruments. On the other hand, promptly launch pragmatic and effective incremental policies. Implement recently introduced incremental policies such as lowering the pledged supplementary lending rate, increasing re-lending quotas, interest subsidies for residential home purchase loans, and financial support for the development of the services sector, and promote their rapid implementation and effectiveness. At the same time, do a good job in economic monitoring and early warning and in pre-research and reserves for policies, introduce new incremental policies in a timely manner as needed, and ensure that economic performance remains within a reasonable range.
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