Bo Xilai vows to reduce surplus as volume expected to rise 15pc to more than US$2 trillion
China's foreign trade will top US$2 trillion this year, a rise of 15 per cent, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai says. Still, the pace of growth will be dramatically down on last year's.
'With macroeconomic measures having gradually taken effect, foreign trade growth will be obviously slower this year,' Mr Bo was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
He said reducing the trade surplus was the ministry's top priority this year because an overly large surplus hindered balanced development of the domestic economy and was bad for foreign trade operations.
Foreign trade grew 24 per cent last year, to US$1.76 trillion.
'We will reduce [the trend of] high-energy consumption while enhancing the social responsibility of enterprises,' Xinhua quoted Mr Bo as saying.