The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held a symposium to review and analyze China's macroeconomic situation in the first quarter of the year in Beijing on April 18. 

Vice-Chairpersons of the CPPCC National Committee Wang Yong and Gao Yunlong attended the meeting. 

The meeting saw briefings from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. The National Development and Reform Commission provided a written report to the meeting. 

CPPCC members, including Yin Yanlin, Ma Jiantang, Huang Qunhui, Zhou Hongyi, Bai Chong'en, Song Shuguang, Li Minji, Ma Junsheng, Lu Jin, Qu Yongyi, and Liu Shangxi, conducted in-depth analyses and assessments of the current macroeconomic situation, and shared their views and suggestions on further consolidating the positive momentum of economic recovery. 

According to the data released by the NBS, China's GDP grew by 5.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, 0.1 percentage point higher than that in the fourth quarter of last year. 

Attending CPPCC members unanimously agreed that the nation's economy continued to recover steadily and improve in the first quarter, laying a solid foundation for achieving the annual target and fully demonstrating the potential of China's economic development and its macroeconomic regulation capabilities. 

In response to the challenges the Chinese economy still faces, CPPCC members suggested resolutely implementing the guiding principles of the Central Economic Work Conference and the 2024 annual two sessions, focusing on stabilizing expectations and growth and boosting confidence. 

While calling for the coordination and alignment of various policies, CPPCC members said that efforts should be made to stimulate consumer potential by stabilizing income expectations, enhancing consumption capacity, improving consumption conditions and reducing restrictive policies to fully unleash consumer potential. 

They underlined the need to promote technological innovation and to make all-out efforts to make progress in AI development, drive the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and the growth of emerging industries, and step up the development of new quality productive forces. 

It is important to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market, reduce logistic costs, deepen reform and opening-up, fully implement policies and measures to promote the growth of the private economy and actively align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and create a fair competitive environment for various types of economic entities, they said.