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As the Chinese economy is returning to stable growth, efforts should be made to fully implement the package of stabilizing policies and keep the economy operating within a proper range, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday.

Li made the remarks during a discussion with delegates to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) from Northwest China's Gansu Province, China Media Group reported on Monday. 

Li stressed that efforts should be made to fully, accurately and comprehensively to implement the new development concept, foster a new development pattern, promote high-quality development, and build a modern economic system.

Also on Monday, an official with China’s top economic planner said that the Chinese economy rebounded significantly in the third quarter and it has maintained a recovering trend this year.

Zhao Chenxin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that judging from the current situation, the economy rebounded noticeably in the third quarter. 

Major indicators showed that China's economic performance remained outstanding compared with the rest of the world, Zhao said.

Zhao said that although China's economy has fluctuated in some months due to unexpected factors, including turbulence from the external environment, the pandemic and extreme weather, the overall trend of recovery has continued.

Major economic indicators such as industrial production, the services industry, investment and consumption have all been recovering. The overall momentum of recovery and development has been maintained with the implementation of economic stabilization packages and follow-up policies, and the solid progress in coordinating epidemic prevention and control with economic and social development, Zhao said.

China has seen a mild increase in consumer prices, in sharp contrast with high global inflation rates, as well as stable employment, balanced international payments and foreign currency reserves of more than $3 trillion, Zhao said.

The third-quarter GDP figure is expected to show a robust rebound, after the country's economic growth slowed to a 0.4 percent in the second quarter. In the first quarter, China's GDP growth stood at 4.8 percent.

“It is expected that the third-quarter GDP will show a significant rebound from the second quarter,” Tian Yun, a Beijing-based economist, told the Global Times on Monday.

A Reuters poll estimated that China's GDP expanded by about 3.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.

Retail sales in September likely extended the growth seen in August, when they grew 5.4 percent from a year earlier, Tian said.

Fixed-asset investment is estimated to have accelerated compared with the January-August data as loan growth in China rose rapidly in September, Tian added.

New bank lending in China nearly doubled in September from the previous month and far exceeded expectations.

Chinese banks extended 2.47 trillion yuan ($344.58 billion) in new yuan loans in September, jumping from 1.25 trillion yuan in August, data released by the People's Bank of China showed.

The strong financial indicators in September pointed to a strengthening momentum of economic recovery, Zhou Maohua, a macroeconomist at Everbright Bank, told the Global Times on Monday.

The figures also showed that policies to help businesses and stabilize growth have achieved effects in boosting market confidence and reviving demand for financing in the real economy, Zhou said.

Global Times