Davos (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Beijing has “solid confidence” it can bring its flagging economy back to relatively fast growth, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao yesterday told his European counterparts and world business leaders at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
The global financial crisis has had “a rather big impact” on China's economy, with rising unemployment in the cities and pressures in the countryside. Never the less, China's economy was in good shape “on the whole,” the Chinese premier said.
Wen also spoke extensively about his government’s policies to tackle the crisis, designed to maintain 8 per cent growth and increase domestic demand to compensate for a drop in exports through new fiscal and financial measures; greater use of new technologies to increase competitiveness and upgrading obsolete production.
He did not cite figures for the last quarter, which indicate that China’s economy grew only by 6.8 per cent; nor did he give any data about unemployment or social unrest.
Equally, he failed to speak about raising the value of the yuan, which would be the right step for many economies, including that of the United States.
The new US Treasure Secretary, Timothy Geithner, last week branded China a currency manipulator. Some studies indicate that the yuan should appreciate by 55 per cent.
In a veiled swipe at the United States Wen said the crisis was due, among other things, to “inappropriate macro economic policies in some economies characterised by low savings rate and high consumption” and to a “failure of financial supervision and regulation".
Wen arrived in Switzerland two days ago on the first leg of “a tour of confidence” that will take him to Germany, Spain, Great Britain and the headquarters of the European Union.
