A view of Lujiazui, Shanghai Photo: VCG

 
China’s economy is expected to reach around 140 trillion yuan ($19.8 trillion) this year as the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) is set to approach a successful conclusion, a senior government official said Saturday at an annual economic conference.

Speaking at the Annual Conference on China’s Economy 2025-2026 organized by China Center for International Economic Exchanges in Beijing, Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, said that international institutions including the IMF and Goldman Sachs have recently raised their growth forecasts for China for this year and next.

“Looking back over the 14th Five-Year period, we have effectively confronted extraordinary challenges such as the pandemic, decoupling and supply-chain disruptions, and natural disasters,” Han said. China’s economic strength has clearly increased, with national economic output having successively exceeded the 110 trillion, 120 trillion and 130 trillion yuan milestones; this year it is expected to reach around 140 trillion yuan. Han stated.

 “The year 2025 is of great significance for advancing Chinese modernization and is an extraordinary year. The main economic and social development targets will be successfully achieved, and the 14th Five-Year Plan is nearing its conclusion,” Han said.

Over the past year, China’s economy has advanced against strong headwinds, shifting toward higher-quality development and demonstrating strong resilience and vitality, Han said, adding that many institutions now forecast full-year growth of about 5 percent and that China remains a major engine of global growth.

Major economic indicators outperformed expectations. Employment remained generally stable, foreign trade expanded rapidly, export diversification has produced clear results, and the building of a modern industrial system has accelerated. New quality productive forces have grown steadily, and R&D and applications in areas such as artificial intelligence, biomedicine, and robotics are at the forefront globally, according to the official.

He also said capital markets are active and investor confidence — both domestic and foreign — has improved. On openness and trade policy, Han said China will continue to pursue orderly, institutionalized opening-up. He called for steady expansion of service-sector openness, optimization of free-trade zones, and support for services exports as well as development of digital and green trade. “We should both expand exports and increase imports to promote sustainable foreign trade,” he said. 

“In 2025, China's foreign trade in goods has sustained strong resilience with steady growth despite external headwinds,” Han said. This is especially true as customs data showed that China's total goods imports and exports measures in yuan-denominated terms rose to 41.21 trillion yuan in the first 11 months of 2025, up 3.6 percent year on year. The growth rate remained flat compared with an increase of 3.6 percent registered in the first 10 months of the year, Xinhua News Agency reported.
 
For the year ahead, Han said the central government will aim to keep economic growth steady, maintain overall stability in employment and prices, preserve a basic balance in international payments, and ensure that household income growth keeps pace with economic growth. 

The annual Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing from Wednesday to Thursday noted that 2025 is a truly extraordinary year, and the main targets for economic and social development will be successfully achieved. It also said that the underlying conditions and fundamental trends sustaining China's long-term economic growth remain unchanged, Xinhua reported.

Global Times