BEIJING: With the ease of COVID-19 containment measures, and given the resilience and potential of its economy, analysts believe China’s economy will revive next year and continue to be a reliable and important driving force of the global economy in 2023.
“Despite global macroeconomic headwinds and the impact of the pandemic, China’s economic performance in 2022 was very commendable,” Lawrence Loh, Director of Center for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore Business School told China Media Group (CMG).
The good expectation is further fortified by the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing ended on Friday with principles for next year’s economic development set and priorities for next year’s economic work arranged, including expanding domestic demand, accelerating the construction of the modern industrial system, consolidating public sector and supporting private business, attracting more foreign investment, as well as preventing major economic and financial risks.
“The meeting has pointed out the direction for economic development next year and beyond. At the same time, it addressed very specific issues, such as expanding domestic demand and attaching importance to technological innovation. It’s like Chinese acupuncture, finding the right point and applying the right force to achieve the desired effect,” Loh said.
With medical systems fortified, new variants getting tamer and 90 percent of the population armed with vaccines, China recently announced new measures to optimize its epidemic control measures.
Noting the recent measures to ease COVID-19 restrictions, Liang Guoyong, a senior economist with the UN Conference on Trade and Development, said that although the change will inevitably bring some pains in the short term, the adjustment is beneficial for the revitalization of economic activities and business confidence, pushing the economy back on a healthy growth track.
Looking forward to 2023, China’s economy is expected to show a strong recovery, with growth momentum considerably strengthened, Liang said. “This will provide an important impetus for the growth of the world economy and contribute to its overall stability.”
Recently, reports from several global banks predicted that the Chinese economy will have a good performance in 2023 with Morgan Stanley and Societe Generale, two multinational financial services companies forecasting a five percent overall growth in 2023.
Their optimism is built on multiple positive signs and indicators.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that China has fiscal space to boost its economy and counter the downward pressure. Rhodium Group, a global research provider, said the largest firms have sunk billions of dollars into Chinese assets and are staying put in a report published on Tuesday.
“Chinese equities have risen 37 percent since the start of November following multiple positive reopening signals from Beijing,” read a research note by UBS strategists Christopher Swann and Vincent Heaney on Monday.
Meanwhile, a host of multinationals are expanding their operation and investment in China. In the first 10 months, foreign direct investment in the Chinese mainland in actual use went up 17.4 percent year on year to 168.34 billion U.S. dollars, official data shows.
One of the heavyweight investors is German automaker Volkswagen. In the second half of this year alone, the company announced investments of up to 3 billion dollars in two new R&D-focused joint ventures in China.
China “will see more foreign investors, more business opportunities and more exchanges in economy, trade, technology and industry, ”Christian Sommer, Chairman of the German Center for Industry and Trade GmbH told CMG, “I’m confident that more and more Chinese companies and talents will come to invest and do business in Europe. I have full confidence in China’s economy.” – The Daily Mail-CGTN News Exchange Item
