China’s Economy Is Facing Downward Pressure
The world’s top leaders recently met in Turkey for the G20 summit and while there were many important topics initially on the agenda, the terrorist attacks in Paris, France took preeminence overall as world leaders discussed ways of combating global terrorism.
Many of these key executives then moved on to Manila, Philippines to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation which is taking place on the 18th-19th of November.
One of the key topics for discussion was the state of China’s economy which has slowed down in 2015 and continues to face challenges.
China’s President Xi Jinping admitted that this country’s economy was under a lot of pressure but assured other global leaders that China would continue to forge ahead inspite of tough circumstances and will continue its growth curve albeit at a slower pace. The president confirmed that while the economic slowdown posed challenges, there was no need for the government to make any changes to its policies on foreign investment.
President Xi addressed the gather right after U.S. President Barack Obama finished his speech. In a statement, Xi said
In general, China’s positive economic fundamentals and long-term trajectory remain unchanged. On the other hand, China’s economy is still coping with the complicated internal and external environment, considerable downward pressure and the temporary pain of deep reforms. Some economic indicators have somewhat fluctuated between months and quarters, but the overall economy has operated within the reasonable range and maintained steady and fairly rapid growth
China’s economy had experienced a strong growth rate for a number of years but the overall global economic slowdown is one of the reasons why China is now experiencing its slowest economic growth in the last 20 years. A number of smaller Asian countries rely heavily on China for exports and their economies revolve around China’s economy. China’s manufacturing industry and its fixed asset investment sectors have been the worst affected.
President Xi outlined his country’s commitment to “One Belt, One Road” which is a project designed to link China with Europe through western and central Asia and also create a special China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that will have around $100 billion in funds.
President Xi also stated that China will take on a leadership role to develop and integrate smaller countries in Asia and help to establish high-standard free-trade agreements with a number of other countries.
