China’s top economic official told an audience of international billionaires and bankers that his country’s economy will likely rebound to its pre-pandemic growth trend this year after coronavirus infections passed their peak. Vice Premier Liu He addressed the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, just hours after Beijing released better-than-expected economic data for the fourth quarter, fueling hopes of a more rapid recovery in 2023. With Chinese gross domestic product expanding just 3% for the whole of last year, Liu expressed confidence of a return to the rates of close to 6% witnessed prior to the Covid-19 shock. “We are confident China’s growth will most likely return to its normal trend,” Liu said, adding that life in China had been “restored to normal” following the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Beijing’s focus this year will be on boosting domestic demand, which will lead to a notable increase in imports, Liu said. Addressing the wave of Covid infections which has strained hospitals in China, Liu said that the peak of infections had passed and consumption-related industries have returned to normal. Liu, a close confidante of China’s President Xi Jinping, sought to allay international concern that Beijing is turning away from globalization to focus on self-sufficiency. “China’s national reality dictates that opening up to the world is a must, not an expediency,” Liu said. “We must open up wider and make it work better. We oppose unilateralism and protectionism,” he said, adding that opening up “is a key driver of economic progress.” Liu also tried to address concerns that Beijing is clamping down on private businesses. He said a return to a planned economy was impossible, while a government drive for “common prosperity” does not mean enforcing strict equality, and requires entrepreneurial effort. Several Davos delegates pointed to a reopened China as reason to be tentatively optimistic about the global economic outlook. “The lockdown of the last three years has created pent-up demand domestically, so I would see increased domestic consumption and of course the manufacturing sector will pick up,” said Laura Cha, chair of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. “All those will be good factors for global growth.”
Citing a growth forecast of around 4.5% for China this year, Credit Suisse Group AG Chairman Axel Lehmann said “I would not personally be surprised when that would be topped.”
DP World Chairman and CEO Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem told Bloomberg Television that China’s emergence from Covid Zero will be a key factor in boosting international trade. NN: it seems to me the world is underestimating 1.4 billion captives being set free. After the Chinese New Year die off and mass inoculation through infections it will be of to the races… As far as the premature celebration about the ha ha ha victory over inflation, that party is about to be busted. Energy prices and raw materials like cooper prices are what are driving the inflation indexes. No China little demand prices dropped. That is all about to change. Prices are not only done dropping, they will soon soar again…… So much for the victory over inflation myth.