China’s Vice President optimistic of economic growth
Li Yuanchao, Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China, has assured participants at the ongoing 46th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, that China’s economy will remain an important driving force for global economic growth.
The Vice President was reported to have said that China has entered a “new normal” of steady rather than speedy growth.
“Despite the volatility in the world economy, China still achieved a GDP increase of over $500 billion [in 2015], which is estimated to be the largest in the world,” he was quoted as saying.
China’s GDP grew only 6.9 per cent, worsening the decline in commodity prices. But describing it as a “medium-high growth rate” the Vice President said it is to be expected given the country’s drive to diversify its economic growth drivers.
The services sector is now the biggest component of China’s GDP, rising by 2.4 percentage points last year to 50.5 per cent.
According to the World Economic Forum, consumption, which accounted for 66.4 per cent of the growth, expanded faster than investment, the main growth driver of the past, by 16.7 percentage points.
Li Yuanchao said China will continue economic reforms and encourage innovation and entrepreneurship to preserve the momentum in economic growth.
According to the WEF, there was an “encouraging” 2.2 per cent growth of the high-tech sector, 30 per cent increase in online retail sales and 42 per cent growth in industrial robots.
Li Yuanchao reportedly said at the ongoing annual meeting, that each day of 2015, over 12,000 newly registered companies emerged across China, indicating rejuvenated entrepreneurship, along with the surge in the number of technology and business incubators aimed at young entrepreneurs.
“In the future, the Chinese government will try to make the most of the new round of the scientific, technological and industrial revolution, in other words, the opportunity brought by the Fourth Industrial Revolution”, he was quoted as saying.
China is the chair of the G20 group of developed and emerging countries this year, a group that accounts for 80 per cent of the world economy. The G20 summit will be held in Hangzhou under the theme “Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy.”
According to the Vice President the Hangzhou summit will focus its discussions on “innovating growth models, improving global economic and financial governance, boosting international trade and investment, and promoting inclusive and interconnected development in an effort to provide new drivers for the development of the world economy.”
By Emmanuel Odonkor