Consumers shop at a supermarket in Huaian, East China's Jiangsu Province on October 19, 2025. Photo: VCG

China's economy has demonstrated significant resilience and vitality so far in 2025 on the back of progress in economic structural adjustments and the nurturing of new growth drivers, a spokesperson with China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday, noting that the country enjoys multiple advantages to achieve its full-year development targets.

According to data released by the NBS on Friday, the country's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 4.629 trillion yuan ($652.36 billion) in October, up by 2.9 percent year-on-year and up 0.16 percent month-on-month. The figure also beat market analysts' forecast of 2.7 percent year-on-year growth.

In the first 10 months, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 41.217 trillion yuan, up by 4.3 percent year-on-year, and online retail sales reached 12.79 trillion yuan, up by 9.6 percent year-on-year.

In addition, the country's total value added from large industrial enterprises grew by 4.9 percent year-on-year in October, or up by 0.17 percent month-on-month, according to the NBS.

In the first 10 months, fixed asset investment (excluding rural households) reached 40.89 trillion yuan, down by 1.7 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

"The national economy saw stable performance overall, with transformation and upgrading progressing solidly and new growth drivers continuing to strengthen," NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference Friday.

Fu highlighted that new momentum generated from the digital and platform economy, rapidly growing emerging sectors, and brisk industrial upgrades have provided strong support for the economy.

Friday's data showed that digital and intelligent manufacturing driven by artificial intelligence (AI) injected fresh vitality into the economy, as the value-added output from digital industry manufacturing jumped 9.5 percent compared with a year ago in the first 10 months. The value-added output from smart device manufacturing was up 11.1 percent and from the manufacturing of electronic components and devices was up 12.3 percent.

"The rapid growth of the equipment manufacturing industry and high-tech manufacturing industry highlights China's advantages and positive trends in high-end manufacturing. The fast expansion of the digital economy and green economy sectors not only offsets growth pressures in traditional industries but also drives the transition toward high-quality economic development, laying a solid foundation for sustained long-term growth," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Friday.

Lian Ping, director and chief economist of the Guangkai Chief Industry Research Institute, told the Global Times on Friday that the economy has shown remarkable resilience, having grown by 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters despite rising external challenges.

He attributed the stable performance of China's consumption partially to support policies. Notably, the central government has deployed 500 billion yuan through a new policy-based financial instrument, which targets over 2,300 projects and is expected to leverage total investment of 7 trillion yuan across a wide range of sectors, including the digital economy, AI, consumption, and urban renewal, official data showed.

"Looking at the overall picture, our economy is on solid foundations, demonstrating advantages in many areas, strong resilience, and great potential," Fu said at the press conference, noting that there are many supporting factors for economic development.

He called for efforts to expand domestic demand, keep employment, businesses, markets and expectations stable, effectively implement macroeconomic policies, and strengthen innovation-driven development in a bid to promote improvements in both the quality and quantity of the economy.

"China's capital market is boosting consumer spending through the wealth effect. With policies continuing to produce effects, economic data is expected to rebound further in the coming months, and the annual economic growth target is poised to be achieved with multiple favorable conditions in place," Yang said.

Amid China's support policies and the emergence of new growth drivers, multiple foreign financial institutions are also becoming more upbeat about China's economic prospects.

"We forecast Chinese export volumes to grow by 5-6 percent annually, gaining global market share and driving overall economic expansion in the next few years. For 2025, we are increasing our real GDP growth forecast from 4.9 percent to 5.0 percent," said US investment bank Goldman Sachs, citing the country's key recent meetings and acceleration in government spending.