China revises preliminary calculation of 2018 GDP

BEIJING - China's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018 was revised to 91.93 trillion yuan ($13.08 trillion), up about 1.9 trillion yuan, or 2.1 percent, over the preliminary calculation, official data showed on Friday.

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) made the revision based on the country's GDP accounting system and the results of the fourth national economic census.

After the revision, the output of the primary industry was 6.47 trillion yuan, accounting for 7 percent of GDP. The output of the secondary industry was 36.48 trillion yuan, accounting for 39.7 percent of the total. The output of the tertiary industry was 48.97 trillion yuan, accounting for 53.3 percent of the total.

The NBS points out that the share of the tertiary industry in GDP climbed after the revision, up 1.1 percentage points from the preliminary calculation.

China's annual GDP goes through two sets of accounting in accordance with the current national economic accounting system, according to the NBS.

The first is the preliminary calculation of GDP, which will be revised in a final verification based on the annual statistical data, fiscal final accounts and departmental administrative records, according to the NBS.

In an economic census year, the preliminary calculation of GDP shall be revised according to the census data.

China conducted the fourth national economic census in 2018, which covers all legal entities, industrial activity units and self-employed businesses engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries in China.

The national economic census provides comprehensive, rich and accurate basic data for the calculation of GDP, according to the NBS.

The GDP revision, in the year of the fourth national economic census, is smaller than the 16.8-percent, 4.4-percent and 3.4-percent upward revisions from the past three economic census years, according to the NBS.

In the preliminary calculation of GDP in 2019, the revised GDP in 2018 will be taken as the base. Although the 2018 GDP increased after the revision, it will not have a significant impact on the GDP growth rate of 2019, the NBS said.

Judging from the past three economic censuses, the data revisions did not have a significant impact on GDP growth in subsequent years, it added.