China Has Greatly Progressed in Its Reform, Top IMF Resident Says
Xu Wei
DATE:  Nov 01 2017
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
China Has Greatly Progressed in Its Reform, Top IMF Resident Says China Has Greatly Progressed in Its Reform, Top IMF Resident Says

(Yicai Global) Nov. 1 -- Great progress has come in China's reform and the major task now is to speed the makeover of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and credit, Alfred Schipke, senior resident representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in China, said at the conference of IMF World and China Economic Outlook yesterday.

If the reform comprehensively expands, China's economy will see robust growth, he predicted.

Global economic growth rates will reach 3.6 percent and 3.7 percent this year and next, respectively, much higher than last year's 3.2 percent, the World and China Economic Outlook the IMF outed yesterday in Beijing predicts. The forecast of more robust growth in China boosts the growth prospects of the emerging and developing economies in 2017 and 2018 by 0.1 percentage points. Economic growth in emerging economies is expected to reach 4.6 percent this year, while China's rate will rise 0.2 percentage points to 6.8 percent. The growth Russia has undergone after the recession raises expectations its economy will grow 1.8 percent, up 0.4 percentage points on the previous forecast. 

China's economy closely connects with the world's economy, whose good performance will exert a positive impact on China's economy and vice versa, Schipke observed.

China can also take advantage of the current 'sweet' period of economic development to propel structural reforms, reduce its credit reliance, improve investment efficiency, promote SOE reform and cull zombie enterprises, thus aiding sustained mid- and long-term growth. China's credit gap has dipped slightly, but room for further improvement still exists. China has seen progress in financial deleveraging and should focus on deleveraging the corporate sector in future, especially SOEs, Schipke added.

"The global synchronized recovery has propelled China's exports this year. Furthermore, progress has been made in China's supply-side reform and the rebalancing from an export-oriented economy to a consumption-oriented economy," said Zhang Longmei, the IMF's deputy resident representative China. In future, the consumption and service sectors will continue to drive economic growth, enabling China to hew to sustained growth in the midterm, and avoid excessive debt accumulation if it strives to grow independently from credit. China has achieved impressive progress in rebalancing its economy, Zhang elaborated.

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Keywords:   IMF,Reform,Alfred Schipke