China contributes significantly to world economic growth
- By Zhang Yongjun
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E-mail Beijing Review, March 10, 2016
Some foreign media and scholars have recently claimed that the economic slowdown in China has affected the world economy. Their argument, however, has been proved groundless by economic data.
China recorded a 6.9-percent GDP growth in 2015, which garnered applause throughout the world. But some observers simply refer to that figure as a "25-year low" without offering deeper analysis. Such comments are superficial.
First of all, as China's economic size expands, the country's GDP growth is expected to slow down at an acceptable pace. This trend accords with that of many countries and regions around the world.
Second, even though China's economic growth has slowed down, it is still one of the highest in the world. According to available figures, among major world economies, China recorded a GDP growth second only to India's 7.6 percent, which was much higher than the average growth of 2 percent in developed economies including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast that world economic growth would reach 3.1 percent in 2015--China's rate more than doubled that number.
Lastly, as the Chinese proportion increases throughout the global economy, China still contributes significantly to world economic growth, even though its growth rate has slowed down slightly. According to the IMF's forecast in 2015, China had still contributed 30 percent to world economic growth. This is not only higher than the United States' contribution--which is the world's largest economy--but also greater than that of India.
When the world economy slowed down in 2015, the international commodities market was experiencing an even worse situation, dealing with excessive supply and prices continuing to decline.
Some media outlets and research institutions pinned the blame on China, saying that its economic slowdown had curbed demand on commodities and damaged prices.
Actually, there were multiple factors that led to the fall in prices in the international commodities market.
Take oil prices for example. According to the IMF's estimation, the average prices of UK Brent, Dubai Fateh and West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell by 47.1 percent in 2015. However, China's crude oil imports in 2015 rose by 8.8 percent. Also in the same year, China's imports of iron ore and concentrates grew by 2.2 percent, and those of mineral and chemical fertilizers as well as natural and synthetic rubber went up by 16.6 percent and 15.3 percent respectively. China's imports of major agricultural products also increased.
