A Bright Prospect

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A Bright Prospect

Some have attributed the tumble of the stock markets in Europe and the United States in early February to the slowdown of China’s economic growth.A number of investors even worry that the Chinese economy will collapse and cause a new financial crisis.Such worries are groundless.

At present the Chinese economy shows no signs of collapsing.To the contrary, the economic fundamentals are good.For example, China’s GDP grew by 6.9 percent in 2015, which met the goal of around 7 percent set by the government at the beginning of last year.

As a matter of fact, the country’s economic growth rate ranks high on the global scale.According to statistics from the International Monetary Fund, China contributed to over 25 percent of the global economic growth last year.In terms of employment, 13.12 million new jobs were created last year, exceeding the government’s target of 10 million, while both registered and surveyed urban unemployment rates remained low.The per-capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 7.4 percent, 0.5 percentage points higher than the GDP growth.Meanwhile, the consumer price index grew by only 1.4 percent.

It can be seen from the aforementioned figures that although China’s economic growth continued a downward trend last year, it still stayed within a reasonable range and there are no serious problems hindering economic growth.

Moreover, the slowdown in recent years is partly due to the international financial crisis that is haunting all countries.On the other hand, China’s measures of economic restructuring and transformation of growth models-where some high energy-consuming and polluting enterprises are being shut down-have also contributed to the slide.

Currently, economic transformation and upgrading have achieved positive results.The contribution of consumption has surpassed investment, the proportion of the tertiary industry outweighs the secondary industry and the value added of the hi-tech industry is growing faster than that of traditional industries.New momentum is building.

Over the next five years, more reforms can be expected concerning budget, taxation, finance, investment, pricing and stateowned enterprises.These moves will create better institutional and market environments for China to change growth engines.

In addition, efforts to promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation will effectively spur the creativity of the whole society, new industries and business formats will become high-growth engines and the updated model for urbanization will result in huge consumption and investment potential.A number of international economic cooperation programs, including the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, will also create greater opportunities for Chinese businesses’ investment and the transfer of production capacities overseas.

After over 30 years of development since the reform and opening-up policies were initiated in the late 1970s, China has formed a complete industrial system.Meanwhile, there is a huge market demand in the country.As a consequence, China has great potential for growth and adequate resilience to withstand risks.Therefore, the economy has the foundation and capability to make a turn for the better.