China not facing ‘severe economic difficulty’ despite record low growth, government think tank says
- Government-linked think tank says only one in eight Chinese companies cut jobs in 2019, showing resilience of economy against external headwinds
- November indicators showed a broad-based recovery in industrial output, providing much-needed positive news amid record economic slowdown
China’s US$13 trillion economy is not under severe pressure and was in better shape than many observers believed before Beijing signed a phase on trade deal with Washington, according to a new government survey.
Chen Changsheng, head of macroeconomic analysis at Development Research Centre, which is tied to China’s cabinet, the State Council, told a symposium at the Peking University over the weekend that economic fundamentals “are not that bad”.
One in eight, or 12.6 per cent, of Chinese enterprises had downsized their workforce in 2019, and 2.5 per cent had “relatively large lay-offs”, said Chen, citing the results of the nationwide survey conducted by the think tank.
Just under three quarters of the 10,000 firms surveyed said orders were stable or set to rise through the first half of 2020, Chen said. In addition, 42.5 per cent of businesses said they were willing to expand investment and another 43.6 per cent would maintain the status quo, while 13.9 per cent plan to scale back investment.