STORY: Chinese economy beats 2023 growth targets with GDP reaching new level
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 16, 2024/file
DATELINE: Jan. 17, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:47
LOCATION: BEIJING/SHANGHAI, China
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of China
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ZHOU HAO, Chief Economist, Guotai Junan Securities Co., Ltd.
3. various of China
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JEROME GRAY, President Global Marketing Premium Chocolate, Ferrero

STORYLINE:

China's gross domestic product (GDP) posted a growth of 5.2 percent year on year in 2023, higher than the annual target of around 5 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Wednesday.

The country's GDP reached a record of 126.06 trillion yuan (about 17.71 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2023. 

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): ZHOU HAO, Chief Economist, Guotai Junan Securities Co., Ltd.
"The year of 2023 is important for the Chinese economy. We see that the overall consumption has been leading the economic recovery since Q1 in 2023. In the meantime, the investment has been helping the manufacturing upgrading and technology development in the economy as well. Later in 2023, we saw that both export and import growth have turned positive, which means that the overall external sector has been also contributing positively to the economic growth."

China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 4.6 percent year on year in 2023.

Fixed-asset investment went up 3 percent year on year in 2023, while retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, climbed 7.2 percent year on year.

Many foreign companies believe that the Chinese market remains an attractive destination for global investors and will continue to provide strong impetus for the world economy.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JEROME GRAY, President Global Marketing Premium Chocolate, Ferrero
"It (China) is such an important market for us, not only in Asia, it's one of the biggest, but this market is very advanced when it comes to new channels, e-commerce. There is a lot we can learn from consumer reality here in China to inspire also our strategy worldwide."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing/Shanghai, China.
(XHTV)