China's economy operated steadily and made progress in October, laying a solid foundation and creating favorable conditions for achieving the country's annual economic development targets, said a spokesman of the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday.

At a press conference in Beijing, Fu Linghui, the spokesman, briefed the media on the country's economic performance in October.

"Judged by the four major macroeconomic indicators [referring to growth, employment, inflation, and international balance of payments], the stable operation of China's economy remained unchanged, which lays a solid foundation for achieving the annual goals," Fu said.

In the first 10 months, the value added of industrial enterprises above the designated size and the service sector production index continued to maintain growth.

From January to October, employment and prices remained stable, and the international balance of payment was basically balanced. Meanwhile, demand potential continued to be unleashed, and market sales steadily expanded in the ten-month period, according to Fu.
In the 10 months, the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 41.2 trillion yuan (around 5.79 trillion U.S. dollars), up 4.3 percent year on year.
The retail sales of culture, sports and leisure services, communication information services, tourism consultation and rental services, and transportation services grew fast over the past 10 months, injecting new impetus into consumption expansion, according to Fu.

The new quality productive forces have been strengthened, and the manufacturing of intelligent products showed good growth momentum from January to October.

In the first 10 months, the added value of intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturing and intelligent vehicle equipment manufacturing increased by 54.7 percent and 25.5 percent year on year, respectively.

Macroeconomic policies continue to take effect and have been playing an important role in stabilizing the economy, according to Fu.

"Recently, competent authorities of China have rolled out a new 500-billion-yuan policy-based financial instrument to leverage the balances of local government debts to supplement local government financial resources and expand effective investment. Meanwhile, measures have been adopted to further stimulate private investment. With existing and new policies working in tandem, this will help strengthen the upward momentum of the economy," Fu said.