MNI BRIEF: China Macro Policy To Strengthen Investment Focus
China's macro policymakers will continue to strengthen counter-cycle efforts this year to support investment as weak external demand drags down exports, a prominent policy advisor said in a forum on Wednesday.
Justin Lin Yifu, dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University and a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body, said fiscal and monetary policy will remain expansionary to help the economy reach the "around 5%" GDP growth target. He noted the reluctancy of private companies and exporters to invest had impacted the economy, thanks to the global slowdown and deteriorated China-U.S relations. (See MNI: China Seen Sustaining Fiscal Stimulus As Total Deficit Up)
China-US relations will be crucial to the country’s economy in the long run, he said.
China's economy is not on a downward trend toward “Japanification" as it has a large pool of talent, a massive market and a complete industrial landscape, compared with the stagnation of Japan's technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and productivity improvement during the 1980s and 1990s, he argued.