In terms of consumption, the growth of consumer prices came down, with the consumer price index (CPI) rising by 7.9 percent, or 0.2 percentage points lower than the same period last year. While prices fell, sales on the domestic market, in both urban and rural areas, increased quickly. The NBS figures show that during the January-June period, the total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 5.1 trillion yuan ($746.71 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.4 percent. Of this amount, retail sales in urban areas stood at 3.48 trillion yuan ($509.52 billion), up 22.1 percent, and those in rural areas reached 1.62 trillion yuan ($237.19 billion), up 20 percent.

This period also witnessed continuous growth in China's foreign trade, but a decline in the growth of exports and a rapid growth in imports. The NBS statistics indicate that in the first six months, the total import and export value was $1.23 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 25.7 percent, which was 2.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Exports were valued at $666.6 billion, up 21.9 percent, but 5.7 percentage points lower than the same period last year. Imports stood at $567.6 billion, up 30.6 percent, or 12.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year. The country's trade surplus was $99 billion, down $13.2 billion from the same period last year.

In the first half of this year, foreign direct investment increased rapidly, with paid-in capital totaling $52.4 billion, up 45.6 percent over the same period last year. By the end of June, the country's foreign exchange reserves had reached $1.81 trillion, an increase of 35.7 percent year on year.

New employment in urban areas increased steadily and incomes of urban and rural residents continued to rise. NBS figures indicate that from January to June, about 6.4 million people were newly employed in urban areas, achieving 64 percent of the government's target for the whole year. The per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 8,065 yuan ($1,180.67), a year-on-year increase of 14.4 percent, representing a real growth of 6.3 percent when allowing for price hikes. During this period, the cash income of rural residents averaged 2,528 yuan ($370.13), up 19.8 percent, or a real growth of 10.3 percent.

In the financial sector, money supply basically remained stable, and savings deposits increased rapidly. According to the NBS, by the end of June, the balance of renminbi loans of all financial institutions had reached 28.62 trillion yuan ($4.19 trillion), showing an increase of 2.45 trillion yuan ($358.71 billion) over the beginning of this year and a decline of 89.9 billion yuan ($13.16 billion) from the same period last year. The balance of renminbi deposits of all financial institutions totaled 43.9 trillion yuan ($6.43 trillion), showing an increase of 4.96 trillion yuan ($726.21 billion) over the beginning of this year and a year-on-year rise of 1.58 trillion yuan ($231.33 billion).

Industrial production slips

The only weak point in the country's economic performance during the first half of this year was a slowdown in industrial production. NBS figures show that in the January-June period, the total added value of industrial enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan ($735,294) was up 16.3 percent year on year, a decline of 2.2 percentage points compared with the same period last year.

But industrial profits continued to grow. According to the NBS, from January to May, the profits generated by industrial enterprises with annual sales revenue exceeding 5 million yuan stood at 1.09 trillion yuan ($159.59 billion), a year-on-year increase of 20.9 percent, which was 21.2 percentage points lower than the rate in the same period last year.