China’s slowdown ‘beneficial’: Expert

16 january 2013

A former adviser to the central bank says that the current economic slowdown in China is doing more good than harm.

Li Daokui, who is now a professor at Tsinghua University, said on Tuesday that the current easing in economic growth—which has seen the pace slow to around 7.5 percent from 10 per cent in 2010 — has created 11 million new jobs in the first nine months of this year, more than the entire annual target of previous years.

“There’s no massive unemployment, wages are growing, and so is domestic demand and consumption, which are all beneficial for China’s structural adjustment,” Li told the 2012 Tsinghua Management Global Forum.

“This stands in contrast to the ‘recoveries’ being experienced by the United States and Europe, which have generated no jobs,” he added.

According to Li’s research, household consumption has contributed to 41 percent of China’s GDP since 2007, instead of the official target figure of 33 percent.

Although Li admitted that an economic slowdown might result in a rise of non-performing loans in China’s banking system, he said the risks remain controllable.

“The next round of global economic growth will come from those countries who dare to make appropriate changes in public policies, but I see no such signs of this in the US and Europe,” Li said.

He added that China still needs to make a lot of improvements in public policy after the change in government due next month, in particular to simplify approval processes.