China should propel opening up, reforms amid uncertainties: report

BEIJING - China should step up economic reforms and improve opening-up policies to face rising uncertainties in the global economy for the next year, a report said on Saturday.

"Global risks and challenges are likely to overshadow opportunities for the world economy in 2017," said the report jointly released by the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) and the State think tank of Xinhua News Agency.

The report cited a rising wave of anti-globalization, falling labor productivity, piling debts, uncoordinated macroeconomic policies, lingering financial risks, and slowing emerging economies.

The report forecast the global economy will grow 3.1 percent year on year in 2016, lower than the average annual level since 1990, and international goods trade, a traditional economic driver, will dawdle at 1.7 percent.

"The world is experiencing the weakest recovery after an economic crisis," said Zhang Yansheng, the CCIEE's head researcher.

Confronted with global uncertainties, China should continue to press ahead with supply-side structural reform, upgrading old industries and fostering new growth, the report said.

Chinese authorities have propelled economic restructuring, including capacity cuts and improved manufacturing, and they plan to give top priority to the efforts in the next few years.

The report said China also needs to develop a higher-level open economy, partly by creating a network of free trade areas.

China is promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, upgrading trade agreements with Southeast Asia, speeding up talks of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and pushing for bilateral trade agreements with more countries.

Dialogue and communications with the United States, as well as policy coordination, should be improved to soothe the expected impact after Donald Trump takes office, the report said, noting key areas including tariffs, exchange rates, manufacturing, monetary policies and climate change.

The report said China should stay alert about financial risks from capital outflow, corporate bonds and property debts, and channel more energy into low-carbon development, including slashing gas emissions and supporting a green bond market.