Visiting Vice
President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Stephen P. Groff said in Beijing
Saturday that he is optimistic about China's economic growth this year despite
signs of downward risks at the year beginning.
Visiting Vice President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Stephen P.
Groff said in Beijing Saturday that he is optimistic about China's economic
growth this year despite signs of downward risks at the year beginning.
"We believe the growth will be moderate in the first few months of
2012, and pick up later in the year," said Groff in an exclusive interview
with Xinhua before flying to Hainan province to attend the Boao Forum for Asia
Annual Conference 2012.
Groff said although downside risks are increasing in the short-run, he
believes the Chinese government can cope with the challenges through fiscal
operation and expansionary monetary policy.
"We don't have any concern of hard-landing for China in the
future," said Groff.
Noting China has lowered its GDP growth target to 7.5 percent this
year, Groff said the slight downward revision highlights the Chinese
government's efforts to pursue growth quality.
But Groff also stressed that to secure long-term balanced growth, China
should further expand its domestic consumption, especially in the case of
current fragile external demand affected by the modest recovery in the United
States, fiscal and debt concerns in the European Union, and Japan's lackluster
economic performance, which are China's largest trading partners.
He suggested that China should diversify its trading partners and
increase trade activities within Asia as well as BRICS countries.
Meanwhile, he said China should take the opportunity to spur domestic
demand, to address its social issues with more spending on education,
healthcare, pension, public housing and other social security programs, which
will also impact consumption positively.
Groff also warned of the widening Gini Coefficient problem that not
only China faces, but other Asian countries.
He said to address the big gap between the rich and the poor, more
efforts are needed to strengthen income distribution policies and social security
nets, in addition to increasing fiscal transfers to poorer regions.
According to Groff, another challenge ahead of China is a shortage of
labor brought by the growing aging population.
But he added that increasing cooperation within the Asian-Pacific
region could help offset the problem as there is a different demographic
profile.
"To solve the problem, the whole region should increase regional
integration, not only in the labor resources, but also in the
manufactory-chain, infrastructure construction as well as more in economic
cooperation," he said.
Xinhua
http://english.cri.cn
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