Multiple shocks, including the impacts of geopolitical conflicts, energy and food crises induced by Russia-Ukraine war, and the health crisis and supply chain disruptions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, have shaken the global economy in recent years. In May 2023, the World Health Organization declared an end to Covid-19 as a public health emergency of international concern, general economic trends gradually improved in the second half of 2023. However, global recovery remained slow and uneven amid complicated landscape brought by relatively subdued macro-economic conditions, threats of inflation and geopolitical instability. Navigating the persistent economic and geopolitical complexities, China's economy achieved 5.2% full year growth in 2023, accelerated from 3% growth rate registered in 2022, after its uplifting of pandemic-related restrictions since early 2023.
During the year, China's economy has shown a steady recovery with the nation's supportive measures, and forged ahead along path of high-quality development. Meanwhile, the national support for the pharmaceutical industry has been consistently strengthened as the nation has deliberated and adopted work plans on promoting high quality development of the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries in the 2023-2025 period. A series of policies have been issued to expedite review and approval of innovative drugs, thus encouraging the research and development for new drugs with high clinical value and increasing corporate investments in pursuing technological advancement. China's pharmaceutical industry has witnessed continuous deepening reforms through optimisation of centralised procurement and expanded medical insurance coverage, and regulatory changes. Though the normalisation of centralised drug procurement, and reforms to better control medical costs, have squeezed the industry's overall sales margins and room for profit growth in the near term, relevant policies have focused on the supply side to comprehensively guide and standardise the healthy development of the industry in the longer term. In accordance with the directions outlined in China's 14th Five-Year Plan, the pharmaceutical industry has been upgrading and evolving with improving regulations to broaden market access and enhance patient affordability, however, the market competition has become more intensified.
Despite the highly challenging operating environment, the Group believes that China's pharmaceutical manufacturing sector will flourish benefited from the favorable national policies. The Group has endeavored to align its development direction with national strategies and policy framework outlined in the 14th Five-Year Plan, and has been allocating its internal resources to optimise its manufacturing strengths over the years to enhance its core competitiveness in response to the intensifying competition in the market landscape. The manufacturing segment has continued to achieve positive results for the year. Meanwhile, the Group continues to make efforts to pursue revenue stream for its trading business and monitor the market trends to identify potential business opportunities. Given China's demographic trend indicating the aging population is accelerating, the Group believes that potential opportunities will emerge from the huge medical needs and demand for quality drugs is enormous, and as the diabetic population is expected to increase with the rising aging population and life expectancy, the Group believes that the commercialisation of the oral insulin product in the future would generate returns to the Group's investments.
The Group's loss for the year attributable to owners of the Company was about HK$162.9 million, which was mainly due to the non-cash item related to the loss arising from fair value change of the financial assets at fair value through profit or loss (i.e. the Group's investments in convertible bonds) of about HK$133.0 million as compared to a gain from the fair value change of the same non-cash item of about HK$158.6 million of last year. During the year, the overall operating results of the Group's business segments remained steady.
While the global economic outlook continues to fluctuate amid uncertainties, China's economy has demonstrated steady recovery supported by a series of stimulus policies and measures. With the nation's advancing its long-term strategic goal of building a Healthy China, the Group believes that both opportunities and challenges coexist in China's pharmaceutical market. Driven by increasing market demands arising from the rising household income, accelerated aging population and increased healthcare awareness, China's pharmaceutical industry is navigating towards quality development through structural transformation and upgrading. Looking ahead, the potential and vitality of China's pharmaceutical industry will continue to be unleashed. The Group will stay cautious in managing its businesses and adopt flexible strategies to address any challenges, while seeking potential opportunities for the Group's business growth, and remain cautiously optimistic on its long-term development.
On behalf of the Board, I would like to express our appreciation to all staff of the Group for their dedicated efforts and contribution to the Group, and to the shareholders, business partners and other stakeholders for their continuous support.
Dr. Xie YiChairman