Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

China's economic fundamentals 'still sound'

By Wang Bo (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-17 15:43

China's economic fundamentals are still sound despite the gloomy global economic prospects, according to Yao Jingyuan, chief economist with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Special coverage: Coping with Financial Crisis Related readings:  China strives to avoid large layoffs in financial crisis  China investment in assets slows in Nov.  Central gov't: Economy to grow at 8% in 2009  China to face increasing employment pressure next year

"Taking a long-term view, the Chinese economy still boasts huge growth momentum, which can only lead this country's industrialization and urbanization to speed up," Yao told a recent business conference in Beijing.

"It is from this point of view that I say our economy is still in good shape," the NBS economist said.

In the short run, China is surrounded by many signs of a weakening business environment, such as declining trade and foreign direct investment as a result of the global financial crisis.

At the same time, domestic consumer demand may also be sluggish, with the national CPI (an index of consumer market inflation) falling to 2.4 percent in November, while PPI (an index of future inflation) simultaneously dropped to a 31-month-low of 2 percent.