China sees sustained recovery in spite of global economic woes: foreign media

Major foreign media outlets expressed positive anticipation towards Chinese recovery despite the COVID-19 pandemic constrains global economy, as China's multiple indicators post significant rebound after work and production resume in recent few months.

Wall Street Journal, the American business-focused, international news daily quoted from Craig Allen, the president of the US-China Business Council, that "China looks like it could be the biggest engine of global GDP growth in 2020 and maybe 2021. We want American companies to benefit from that absolutely."

The news outlet also referred to the 2020 Global Economic Prospects published by the World Bank on June 8, which concluded that China is nonetheless the only major world economy likely to post positive growth this year.

According to the World Bank forecast, GDP growth in China is projected to slow to one percent in 2020, and then rebound above its trend pace, to 6.9 percent in 2021, as lockdowns are lifted around the world.

The World Bank, on the other hand, praised the flexible macroeconomic policy support that China has implemented to mitigate economic downturn. "In China, the PBOC has provided substantial liquidity support, cut policy rates, and lowered reserve requirements to stem market sell-offs and support businesses," cited from the report.

"Key fiscal policy measures in China included emergency health spending, tax breaks, direct transfers to vulnerable households, and deferrals and special local government bond issuance to boost investment, totaling 5.4 percent of GDP," said the World Bank.

The Nikkei, Japanese flagship publication and financial newspaper, reported major economic indicators in China showed that the country has registered significant rebounds in various sectors.

The total added value of industrial enterprises above a designated size rose by 4.4 percent in May, with the growth rate expand compared to a month earlier, according to National Bureau of Statistics.

Automobile sales expansion, as The Nikkei noted, mainly drove the robust recovery in industrial sector. As of May, Chinese vehicle sales posted the first increase of 1.8 percent since June 2018, and the production volume reached an increase of 19 percent year-on-year.

Apart from that, real estate market in China stays strong and resilient amid the virus outbreak, with property investment in first five months only dropped 0.3 percent year-on-year, and has returned to basically the same level as last year.