China's strong economic growth in 2021 positive news for Italian exporters, experts say

ROME - China's stronger-than-expected economic growth in 2021 sent ripples around the global economy, including in Italy, which considers China as one of its top trade partners, Italian business insiders and media have said.

On Monday, China announced that its gross domestic product grew 8.1 percent year-on-year in 2021, despite lingering impacts from the two-year-old COVID-19 pandemic.

The news helped bolster the performance of the Italian Stock Exchange in Milan, which surged more than one percent in early trading on Monday.

"The data released Monday was important for China, with an impact on the world economy, as well as on Italy's economy," Mario Boselli, president of the Italy China Foundation, told Xinhua. The Milan-based institution aims to promote stronger trade and cultural ties between the two countries.

"It's a good sign for the start of the year," Boselli said. "We should see it as something positive and encouraging."

Boselli's views were echoed in multiple Italian media. Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy's top financial daily, explored the broad impacts of China's economic data on European economies, while online daily newspaper Formiche said that China's economic performance exceeded the expectations of many economists it had surveyed.

Il Sole 24 Ore also called the Chinese central bank's decision to cut loan rates "prudent."

China's central bank Monday cut the interest rates of its medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans and reverse repos by 10 basis points amid the country's efforts to lower lending costs and further shore up economic growth.

Milan-based newspaper Il Giornale said China's economic performance was a "positive sign" that China reached its growth targets as the world waits for the definitive 2021 growth data from other countries. "The world was watching," the newspaper's editorial on the topic said.

The upbeat news out of Beijing is particularly relevant in export-oriented economies like Italy, experts said. Robust economic growth in China could help improve Italian exports, helping economic growth while other sections of the Italian economy, such as tourism, services, and domestic consumption are slower to recover from the negative economic impacts of the pandemic.

Boselli said the latest developments could help the Italian fashion, design, and lifestyle sectors, as well as producers of medical supplies and machinery components and parts.

"We could see fashion exports improve by 30 to 50 percent this year," he said.

Though China is far larger than Italy, there are some similarities between the two economic partners, noted Boselli, who has traveled to China more than 150 times over more than four decades.

"Both countries are important manufacturers in the world. We both have many small- and medium-sized companies, and internal supply chains," he said.

What Italy could learn from China's economic performance in the wake of the pandemic, Boselli said, is China's "determination" and "resilience."

Italian exports to China kept growing in the first 11 months of 2021, reaching $27.65 billion, up 40 percent year-on-year, Chinese customs data showed.