The Sunday Mail
Manyika Kangai
China’s GDP milestone
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded the 110-trillion-yuan (US$17,3 trillion) threshold in 2021, according to official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. The country saw its GDP increase 8,1 percent year-on-year to 114,367 trillion yuan (about US$17,99 trillion) last year. The achievement marked a new economic milestone for the Chinese economy after the country’s GDP expanded 2,3 percent year-on-year to 101,5986 trillion yuan (about US$15,99 trillion) in 2020.
Spring Festival travel rush kicks off
The number of railway passenger trips during China’s upcoming Spring Festival travel rush is expected to jump 28,5 percent from the holiday season last year, according to industry data. The 2022 Spring Festival travel rush will last from January 17 to February 25. During the 40-day travel season, also known as chunyun, many Chinese people will travel to meet their families for the Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, which will fall on February 1.
China sees booming NEV battery output
China’s output of storage batteries to power new energy vehicles (NEVs) leaped 163,4 percent year-on-year to reach 219,7 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in 2021 as the NEV industry continued to boom. The output of lithium iron phosphate batteries stood at 125,4 GWh last year, skyrocketing 262,9 percent from the previous year. China also produced 93,9 GWh of ternary lithium batteries during the period, up 93,6 percent year-on-year. Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) surged approximately 160 percent to 3,52 million units. The booming NEV sales followed the gradual improvement of China’s supporting infrastructure. By the end of 2021, China had built 75 000 charging stations, 2,62 million charging piles and 1 298 battery swapping stations.
China proposes transfer of manufacturing industries
Ten departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Orderly Transfer of Manufacturing Industries” proposing key directions and key industries for manufacturing transfer and undertaking.
The document points out that transfer of manufacturing is important to optimise the spatial distribution of productivity, promote the coordinated development of regions, and expand new space for the development of the manufacturing industry. Among the proposals presented were proposals such as guiding the focus of labour-intensive industries to shift to the central and western regions with abundant labour and convenient transportation and promoting the transfer of technology-intensive industries to central cities in the central, western, and northeastern regions, provincial sub-central cities, and other regions rich in innovative elements and strong industrial foundations.
China’s pilot digital yuan ramps up
China’s digital yuan transactions hit nearly 87,57 billion yuan (US$13,78 billion) at the end of 2021, as the country ramped up research and pilot use of the central bank’s digital currency. A total of 261 million personal wallets for the digital yuan had been opened, and the number of pilot scenarios had exceeded 8,08 million, according to the People’s Bank of China. The central bank will continue promoting research and development of the digital fiat currency, or the e-CNY, and further deepen the pilot use of e-CNY in retail services, government services, and other scenarios. China’s efforts in developing its central bank digital currency started in 2014 when it first conducted relevant studies, followed by the bank’s moves to engage in research and development cooperation with commercial banks and internet companies in 2017.
Manyika Kangai has over 15 years of experience facilitating and advising on China-Africa trade and investment deals.
