China remains important engine for world economic growth: FM spokesperson

(ECNS) -- China remains an important engine for world economic growth, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Wednesday.

The spokesperson made the remarks when responding to Western politicians and media’s claiming that China’s economic slowdown may pose risks to global economic growth.

China’s economy continues to recover and its rebound is generally on a sound track, said Wang. He pointed out that for the first half of this year, China’s GDP grew by 5.5 percent year-on-year, visibly faster than the three-percent growth rate last year, higher than the average annual growth rate of 4.5 percent over the three years under COVID-19 and three percentage points higher than the growth rate of the U.S. economy.

According to the IMF World Economic Outlook updated last month, China’s economy is expected to grow by 5.2 percent and account for one third of global growth this year.

“China’s high-quality economic development has made solid progress with bright spots both in the quality and quantity of growth,” Wang said.

He pointed out that consumption plays a significantly stronger role in driving growth. In the first half of this year, domestic demand accounted for 110.8 percent of economic growth, 59.4 percentage points higher than the same period last year. Of this, contribution from final consumption amounted to 77.2 percent, up by 46.4 percentage points.

The Chinese economy enjoys strong resilience, ample potential and robust dynamism and the fundamentals sustaining China’s sound economic growth in the long run remain unchanged, he said.

The spokesperson noted that lately, China has rolled out a host of targeted and substantive measures aimed at promoting consumption, boosting the private sector, and attracting foreign investment, which have been applauded by domestic and foreign investors.

“Certain Western politicians and media have exaggerated and hyped up the current difficulties in China’s post-COVID economic recovery, and facts will prove them wrong,” the spokesperson said.

“We have the confidence, the conditions and the ability to meet the economic and social development targets set for 2023 with high quality, open up broader prospects for China’s economy, and remain a source of strength for world economic recovery and growth,” he added.