From Bloomberg:
China’s economy is unlikely to slow “sharply” in 2007 because rising consumer spending and industrial production will underpin growth, said Yao JingyuanÔºàÂßöÊôØÊ∫êÔºâ, chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics(ÂõΩÂÆ∂ÁªüËư±ÄÔºâ.
“The government’s policy to boost consumption will show better results next year,” Yao said in an interview at a business forum in Beijing today. Consumer spending should make a “greater contribution to economic growth, even though investment may slow amid the government’s curbing measures.”
China has raised minimum wages and increased welfare spending to get households to spend more and make the economy less dependent on investment and exports. As it encourages spending by consumers, China has increased interest rates and ordered banks to set aside more money as reserves to damp business investment and clamp down on wasteful factory expansion. [Full Text]
(Photo of Yao Jingyuan)
