Ambassador seeks to allay concerns over China’s economic growth

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Ma Mingqiang says there is “nothing to be pessimistic” about his country’s economy despite it being under strain now.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 1 Oct 2015, 07:56 PM
Updated : 1 Oct 2015, 10:53 PM

“This is somehow controlled. This is only a problem in the course of progress,” he said on Thursday in Dhaka while delivering a lecture on China’s economic growth at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.
 
He said the “fundamentals for economic stability have not changed,” citing that employment rates, commodity prices and foreign trade all remained “stable” with the steady growth of residents’ income.
 
Mingqiang attributed the 0.8 percent drop in exports this year to a combination of factors.
 
These are the “weakening of developed economies’ driving role in China’s export, the slip of economic growth in most emerging economies and a higher comparison base in the year-earlier period”.
 
“I have full confidence in the Chinese economy. This confidence comes from the huge potential, resilience and room for manoeuvring of the Chinese economy,” he said.
 
The ambassador quoting his prime minister also said China had “many tools in its tool box to manage our economy”.
 
“When the economy dropped such a large point, I think there will be some tools and measures taken to bring the economy back on the track.”
 
China had “maintained a medium-high growth rate and its restructuring and upgrading drive continue to make progress”.
 
His lecture marked the 66th founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) which was founded in 1949 after the Communist Party defeated the nationalist Kuomintang.
 
When China started its reform and opening to the world beyond in 1978, its per capita GDP was only $224, the second lowest in the world.
 
The per capita GDP has increased 34 times to touch $7,500 today.
 
China is now the second largest economy, the biggest trade partner of more than 120 countries.
 
But the growth rate has fallen to 7 percent in the first half of this year that, the ambassador said, was based on the economic aggregate of more than $10 trillion.
 
He said the increment of this for a year would be $800 billion or more, outstripping the increment of the period with the growth rate of 10 percent.
 
“Compared with the other major economies in the world, China is still at the forefront,” he said.
 
The ambassador once again reminded that China was duty-bound to contribute to the world economic growth as it owed much of its progress to international cooperation.
 
He said its relations with Bangladesh “enjoy extensive social support” and this would “move forward”.