The story appears on

Page A7

July 19, 2019

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Opinion

Steady growth means strong potential

Despite increasing downward pressure from both home and abroad, China’s economy grew steadily in the first half of 2019, indicating its strong resilience and great potential to secure long-term stable development.

China’s economy grew 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first six months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics has reported.

Although the headline growth saw a slight retreat, it meets market expectations and falls within China’s annual target range of 6 to 6.5 percent.

The hard-won increase was achieved against the backdrop of slower global economic growth.

With increasing uncertainties, the International Monetary Fund in April cut its outlook for global growth to 3.3 percent, the lowest since the 2008 financial crisis. Meanwhile, US protectionist trade measures continue to chill market confidence and business investment, and weigh down the growth of global free trade.

However, such complex circumstances have only strengthened China’s determination to stick to the path of reform and opening-up, a key source of power that has fueled its economic development for decades.

‘Drip irrigation’ method

At home, China has continued to press ahead with structural reforms to make the economy more balanced and optimized. Rather than resorting to “flood-like” stimuli to handle the downward pressure on growth, China has been increasingly relying on a “drip irrigation” method to support the real economy and shore up domestic consumption.

Thanks to these efforts, consumption now plays a major role in driving economic growth, with final consumption contributing to 60.1 percent of economic expansion in the first six months.

To encourage innovation, a major driver of high-quality growth, the Chinese government has put in place a slew of measures such as offering preferential tax policies to innovators and ensuring fair competition.

To fight the spectre of rising protectionism that is hindering global economic growth, China is calling on nations worldwide to uphold multilateralism and preserve the rules-based multilateral trading system.

Beijing has chosen to stay committed to further opening up the country’s market to overseas investors, and actively deepening its cooperation with partners around the world.

Over the past years, China has fulfilled its promise by broadening market access, created a more attractive investment environment, expanded imports and strengthened protection of intellectual property rights.

Earlier this year, China’s National People’s Congress passed the foreign investment law, a landmark legislation that will provide stronger protection and a better business environment for overseas investors.

The author is a Xinhua writer.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend