ZCZC
BCN-18
CHINA-DIGITAL-ECONOMY-GDP
China’s digital economy contributes more to GDP: report
BEIJING, Dec. 23, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – China’s digital economy accounted for
a bigger share of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first half of this
year, with more room for further improvement, a report showed.
The digital economy was estimated at 16 trillion yuan (2.32 trillion U.S.
dollars) in the January-June period, according to the China Academy of
Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) under the Ministry of
Industry and Information Technology.
The CAICT said the figure was equivalent to 38.2 percent of GDP, up from
the 32.9-percent ratio in 2017.
In the face of looming downward pressures, China has resorted to an
emerging, fast-growing digital economy for new growth momentum, which has
prompted booming growth in areas including e-commerce and mobile payment, as
well as technological innovation in traditional industries.
The report pointed out, however, that China’s digital economy still faces
imbalance.
Compared to the tech-savvy service sector, agriculture and secondary
industries have huge room for improvement in digitalization, and gaps are
wide between different regions, CAICT researcher Lu Chuncong said.
As the digital economy has become an inevitable trend, more efforts should
be taken to push forward digital transformation across all industrial and
value chains, Lu said.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1415