How will China’s sweeping pollution crackdown affect its economy?
While an unprecedented assault on polluters has seen thousands of companies punished and plants shut down, the economic implications are just unfolding
An unprecedented campaign against environmental pollution has led to 18,000 companies being punished across the country since last summer and more plant shutdowns. But the crackdown’s economic implications are just beginning to unfold.
While there’s no official data to measure the economic impact of Beijing’s drive for clean air and water, the government’s environmental campaign has become a key consideration in analysing China’s prices, employment, growth and economic structure, analysts said.
“This time China is very serious about environmental inspection,” Tianfeng Securities analysts led by Liu Yuhui, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in a note. “It will wield influence to the economy for a long term.”
China intensified its environmental work after President Xi Jinping told the country’s provincial governors and ministers in July that pollution treatment is one of his top three priorities for the coming years, along with controlling financial risk and reducing poverty.