Senior officials from two major international financial organizations said at a conference at Suzhou that they expect the Chinese economy to perform strongly in 2001 and 2002.
Such a robust economy is helpful for the Asia-Pacific region, which is struggling to pull itself out of an economic slowdown, the officials said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) "expects growth this year in China to be between 7 percent and 8 percent... and the growth will continue to be strong next year," IMF Managing Director Horst Koehler said.
IMF's prediction for China is in line with China's official forecast: growth between 7 percent and 7.5 percent.
China's growth "is not only good for China, but it can also stabilize the region," Koehler told reporters at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation's Eighth Finance Ministers Meeting, which ended yesterday.
China's growth, coupled with other Asian economies' ability to prevail in hard economic times, has helped maintain confidence in the region, said Sven Sandstrom, managing director of the World Bank (WB).
Koehler, who said he was amazed by the changes in Suzhou since he last visited in 1985, said he believes China will continue to attract investors provided it can resolve its structural problems.
Koehler, who held a separate meeting with China's Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng on Saturday, said China's commitment to running sound banks and healthy enterprises is evident in its restructuring of the banking sector and its efforts to make State-owned enterprises more efficient.
Sandstrom also said he had a feeling that financial restructuring is high on the Chinese Government's agenda. He said he, too, is confident that China can resolve its problems in this area.
Turning to globalization, Koehler said China and some other Asian economies can serve as examples of the positive effects globalization can have on economies.
(China Daily 09/10/2001)
