China’s GDP grows 4.5 per cent year on year in Q3 2026

Beijing (ANTARA) – China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5 per cent year on year in the third quarter (Q3) of 2026, according to data released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday (19 October).

The figure was higher than the 4.3 per cent growth recorded in the second quarter (Q2). China’s economy grew 4.6 per cent year on year in the first three quarters of 2026.

According to the NBS, the world’s second-largest economy generated output worth about 107.11 trillion yuan (one yuan = Rp2,699) between January and September.

“The national economy continued to move forward amid pressure and pursued its transition towards high-quality development driven by innovation, with increasingly positive changes in key indicators,” the NBS said in a statement.

NBS Deputy Head Mao Shengyong said at a press conference that GDP growth of 4.6 per cent over the first three quarters was in line with China’s annual growth target.

The country’s economy added 5.7 trillion yuan in output during the period, the largest increase for the same period in five years, he added.

GDP growth in Q3 was 0.2 percentage points higher than in Q2. Meanwhile, several international institutions had forecast that growth in major economies would slow compared with the previous quarter, Mao said.

New sources of growth continued to develop in China, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the country’s economic growth in the first three quarters, according to preliminary estimates.

Industrial value-added output rose 5.3 per cent year on year, with equipment manufacturing up 10.2 per cent and high-tech manufacturing up 14.3 per cent. Output of industrial robots, lithium-ion batteries and 3D-printing equipment rose by 29.1 per cent, 39.5 per cent and 62.5 per cent respectively.

Data released on Monday also showed that the services sector grew 5.2 per cent year on year in the first three quarters of 2026. Information transmission, software and information technology services grew 10.4 per cent, while leasing and business services rose 12.3 per cent.

Imports and exports of goods increased 18.8 per cent year on year to 39.94 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, with imports rising 22.3 per cent. Trade grew 27.5 per cent in September alone.

The average surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.2 per cent in the first three quarters, unchanged from the same period a year earlier.

In September, the rate stood at 5.2 per cent, down 0.1 percentage points from August. In the first nine months of 2026, per capita disposable income rose 5.3 per cent in nominal terms and 4.4 per cent in real terms year on year.

Retail sales of consumer goods increased 1.1 per cent year on year in the first three quarters, while retail sales of services grew 5 per cent. Mao added that energy consumption per unit of GDP fell 3.1 per cent over the period.

Mao said China would step up efforts to expand domestic demand, improve supply and increase the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies in order to sustain the positive momentum of innovation-driven, high-quality development.