December 28, 2022
BEIJING – China’s economy has weathered the toughest period and the country’s streamlined COVID-19 response measures will have a positive impact on economic recovery, officials and experts said.
They said China will gradually shrug off the impact of COVID-19 and will see a remarkable economic recovery in 2023 as policymakers continue to implement streamlined policies and become more pro-growth oriented.
However, they warned of problems in the real estate sector as well as strong external headwinds that would weigh on the economy, stressing that improving expectations and boosting market confidence will be key to economic recovery next year.
Yin Yanlin, deputy director of the Central Committee’s Office of Financial and Economic Affairs, said optimizing COVID-19 containment measures will create favorable conditions for economic recovery.
“The worst moment is over,” Yin said at an annual gathering on China’s high-quality development held by the China Wealth Management 50 Forum on Saturday. “With the implementation of the optimized COVID containment measures, (China) will experience smoother flow of people and logistics, and accelerated recovery of business and social activities.”
Yin’s comments came after the key Central Economic Work Conference, which ended in mid-December and sent a clear signal that reviving the COVID-hit economy and reining in GDP growth will be among the government’s main tasks.
Citing the key tasks set by the annual labor conference, Yin said Beijing’s adoption of a more proactive approach will help economic recovery.
“The downturn in recent years is just a short-term disruption from the pandemic, which is not enough to change the long-term trend of China’s economic development,” he said. “The fundamentals of the Chinese economy – its long-term sustainability, strong resilience, enormous potential and large scope for maneuver – remain unchanged.”
Yin warned of the difficulties and challenges ahead, including a more complicated external environment and a slowdown in global demand, and said further steps should be taken to rebalance growth, focusing on strengthening market confidence, boosting of consumption, expanding effective investment and promoting healthy development in China’s real estate market.
His views were shared by Zhu Guangyao, the former vice finance minister, who said China’s economy is likely to improve overall in 2023 amid policymakers’ more pro-growth focus for next year.
“China’s economy will return to its potential growth rate of 5-6 percent in 2023 to show healthy development,” Zhu said during Saturday’s meeting.
Over the past three years, China’s economy has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 4.5 percent, below the potential rate, said Wang Yiming, former deputy director of the State Council Development Research Center.
“The recently held Central Economic Work Conference has sent clear and positive signals for stabilizing growth, boosting domestic demand, supporting the development of the private sector economy and stabilizing the real estate market, which greatly improved expectations and boosted market confidence,” added Wang.
Comments are closed.