The reporter recently learned from the Big Data Development Department of the National Information Center that in the first quarter of this year, high-frequency data in many fields such as consumption, investment, industrial production, and enterprise operations showed a growth trend, reflecting that my country's economic operation is showing a positive and new trend.

■The consumer market is full of highlights, and policy dividends are released at an accelerated pace.

From the perspective of offline consumption, the National Information Center offline consumption hottest index increased by 14.2% year-on-year in the first quarter, up 9.1 percentage points from the previous quarter. Among them, March increased by 20.0% year-on-year, 4.7 percentage points higher than the previous two months, and the growth rate continued to rise.

By industry, the leisure and entertainment industry, catering industry, accommodation industry and tourism industry increased by 67.6%, 14.5%, 4.0% and 3.1% year-on-year respectively.

On March 23, the anchor promoted local cultural and tourism projects in a live broadcast room beside the pastoral rapeseed fields in the south of Chengcheng City, Jiande Genglou Street, Zhejiang Province. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yu

The recovery of the consumer market is inseparable from the support role of policies. As the policy of exchanging the old-for-new policy for consumer goods and the policy dividends are being released at an accelerated pace, "large-scale consumption" such as automobiles and home appliances ushered in a new round of growth this year. In the first quarter, the online retail sales of related home appliances increased by 9.0% year-on-year, of which 32.3% year-on-year in March, indicating that the peak season of home improvement has driven the accelerated release of demand for home appliance replacement.

On March 28, Beichen District, Tianjin held the 2025 consumer goods traded for new people-friendly service activity, attracting many citizens to come and buy. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ran

■Investment continues to refresh the progress bar, and engineering construction is progressing smoothly. The National Information Center has shown that through monitoring and analysis of bidding data, the winning amount of national project investment in the first quarter increased by 10.7% year-on-year and 11.6% year-on-year in March, among which municipal facilities, medical and health care, transportation projects, etc. have grown rapidly.

This is a scene of the factory of Tianjin Bomaike Marine Engineering Co., Ltd. (drone photos) taken on March 21. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Zishuo

Monitoring data from the National Information Center showed that the number of excavators sold in February increased by 52.8% year-on-year, of which the domestic market increased by 99.4% year-on-year, the largest single-month increase in four years. The operating rate of cement mills increased by 3.0 percentage points in March compared with the same period last year, and the apparent consumption of steels such as rebar and wire increased by 10.4% year-on-year. The national construction machinery operation rate continued to rebound after the Spring Festival, and as of the end of March, the operation rate increased by nearly 35 percentage points from the Spring Festival low.

On March 7, at the TJ02 section of the Wangjiangjing-Xinang Highway Project of National Highway 524, workers were carrying out welding and binding of cast-in-place bridge deck of 60-meter steel-concrete composite beam (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Yu

■ Industrial production and enterprise operations are gradually recovering, and new quality productivity releases vitality

The production heat index of the National Information Center Industrial Park shows that the index increased by 11.3% year-on-year in the first quarter, of which 14.9% year-on-year in March, further increasing from the previous two months.

On March 27, in the production workshop of Thomson Electric Co., Ltd. located in Helan Industrial Park, Ningxia, staff made silicone insulating sheath. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Zhisen

The data also shows that innovative enterprises continue to develop, and new quality productivity releases vitality. The National Information Center Startup Enterprises Business Vitality Index increased by 20.0% year-on-year in the first quarter, and the growth rate increased by 13.8 percentage points compared with the previous quarter, of which 21.9% year-on-year in March. The popularity index of technologically innovative enterprises increased by 18.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, an increase of 10.7 percentage points from the previous quarter, of which 21.4% year-on-year in March, with the growth rate continuing to rise.

On March 21, workers were working in a dust-free workshop at Jiangsu Heyi Guangxian Technology Co., Ltd., Jiangdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Jiangsu Province. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Ren Fei)

Director: Fang Kuan

Reporter: Zhang Mengjie, Li Haiwei, Yang Jinxin, Huo Siying, Li Sijia, Liu Yuxuan, Lin Kai