The International Monetary Fund (
IMF) projected Wednesday that
China's economy would continue growing strongly despite the
heightened risks of deeper global downturn following the terror
attacks in the United States.
The IMF projected China's economy to increase 7.5 percent in 2001,
up from its previous forecast of 7 percent in May. That was in
contrast with the downward revisions of the projections for the
world economy and most major economies.
The IMF projected the world economy to grow by only 2.6 percent
this year, down 0.6 percentage point from its May forecast of 3.2
percent.
"China is expected to continue growing strongly in 2001, in part
because total exports, and especially exports of high technology
goods, comprise a much lower share of GDP (gross domestic product)
than in most other emerging Asian economies," the IMF said in its
World Economic Outlook.
Although exports have slowed markedly in 2001, indicating that
China is not immune to the global slowdown, overall activity
remained strong in the first half of 2001, led by buoyant private
consumption and strong public investment, the IMF said.
"China's near-term vulnerability to external shocks is also limited
both by its high level of foreign reserves and by strong inflows of
foreign direct investment, running at around 40 billion U.S.
dollars a year since 1996 and showing a strong pickup in
commitments over the past year," the report said.
The IMF said the key economic challenges facing China remain to
strengthen the banking sector, move forward with enterprise
restructuring, and over the medium term, strengthen the fiscal
position to cover the costs of bank and corporate reforms and meet
outstanding pension liabilities.
The IMF projected the country's economy would grow 7.1 percent in
2002.
(People’s
Daily 09/27/2001)