China not to witness qualitative change in economy in 2007, expert
Chinanews, Beijing, Nov. 1 – An economist from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said recently that China would not witness an qualitative economic change in 2007. Next year, the economic growth rate in China would be kept at around 10%, less than the 10.5% growth rate in 2006. Such economic slowdown was normal as the Chinese government tried to take some measures to control the macro economy. It would not indicate that Chinese economy would have some qualitative change next year.
The statement was made by Wang Tongsan, director of the Quantitative Economics and Techeconomics Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an interview given to a reporter of the People¡¯s Daily Overseas Edition.
Wang said that normally, three situations might lead to a qualitative change in the economy: the eruption of wars, the occurrence of natural disasters, or some external influences such as the Asian financial crisis or oil crisis. So far, none of these situations has occurred in China.
Apart from the eruption of wars, China has taken some protective measures to prevent other negative factors from happening. As Chinese national strength has increased, China is more able to prevent natural disasters, Wang said.
He said that Chinese government had tried to control the economy so that it wouldn¡¯t fluctuate too severely. With twenty years of experiences, Chinese government is now more capable of controlling the macro economy. In theoretical field, China has gained plenty of knowledge about macro economic control, therefore, it has become more and more mature in exercising its macro control policies in practice. When one looks back on China’s economic changing trend in history, one will notice that the degree of economic fluctuation now becomes much smaller, unlike those in the 1980s or the 1990s when economic fluctuations could reach as large as five percentage points.