China’s digital economy driving GDP growth

The value of China’s digital economy hit 50.2 trillion yuan ($7.25 trillion) in 2022, some 41.5% of GDP, according to a new report on the country’s digital development.

The report, by the Cyberspace Administration of China, was launched at the 6th Digital China Summit, which took place recently in the city of Fuzhou in East China’s Fujian province.

The theme of the summit was ‘Accelerating the construction of digital China to promote Chinese modernization’, with the two-day event focusing on showcasing the latest achievements of the Digital China initiative.

In particular it put the spotlight on digital infrastructure, the digital economy and digital society. A digital product expo also took place as part of the event.

“The building of Digital China provides informational technology and resources to drive modernization, promote high-quality development, and will become an important engine for Chinese modernization in the digital era,” said Wang Qinmin, head of the national experts panel on e-government affairs, at the opening ceremony of the summit.

Part of the Digital China Summit, the Digital Achievements Exhibition opened to the public at the same time in Fuzhou.

One company exhibiting was Meitu, which showcased its AI-generated content (AIGC) series of products. Founder and CEO Wu Xinhong said that the company is continuously making efforts to improve its industrial service capability through the AIGC, creating tools for animation design, game production and shoes and clothing design.

Li Peigong, a professor at Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance, said integration of the digital economy and the real economy will enable the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, create new industries and new business forms and models, and become a new engine for strengthening economic development.

Also represented at the summit were Xin Hee Co Ltd, located in Xiamen city in Fujian. It develops cutting and template machines for the high-end women’s clothing market. In 2020, the company built a state-of-the-art factory in Xiamen, establishing an information and data collection and analysis system, which means the company can integrate, analyse and store terminal and market data. It can also inform R&D and design, commodity planning, procurement and production, among other functions.

Ye Daoren, manager of the technical department of the company, said that in order to meet the demand of the fast fashion and personalized market, the company introduced a new intelligent cutting bed for small orders last year.

“The intelligent cutting bed uses AR technology to present cutting information through electronic projection and has the functions of colour separation and code separation, bar alignment, arbitrary positioning and cutting, automatic typesetting, and speed improvement.

“Compared with manual cutting, it can ensure accuracy, greatly improve production efficiency, and save cardboard, which is greener and more environment-friendly,” Ye Daoren said.

• China will accelerate the development of the digital economy and further integrate it with the real economy, according to a recent report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

In the past five years, the digital economy has consistently been at the forefront of the Chinese government’s annual work reports.

China rolled out a plan for the overall development of the country’s digital infrastructure in February, outlining the government’s intent to improve interconnectivity in digital infrastructure and significantly improve the digital economy.

 

Banks increase lending to key sectors

China’s banks are providing better support to the real economy by extending more loans and increasing credit lines, especially in key and weak areas, according to an industry expert.

Zhou Maohua, an analyst at China Everbright Bank, made his remarks after reviewing the latest data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), which showed commercial banks performed better in terms of supporting the manufacturing sector, the private sector and the small and micro-sized enterprises during the first quarter of the year.

According to the CBIRC, net profits of commercial banks totalled 667.9 billion yuan ($96 billion) in the first quarter, up 1.3% year-on-year.

Inclusive loans to small and micro-sized enterprises expanded to 2.3 trillion yuan in the first quarter, up by 808.8 billion yuan from a year ago.

“Thanks to the supply-side reform and empowerment from digitalisation, banks’ strength to serve the real economy is on the rise, with the continuous improvement in the structure of loans and credit,” said Zhou.