China is still the biggest engine of global growth (international theory)

　　On April 18th, in the workshop of a new energy technology company in Hai ‘an City, Jiangsu Province, workers were rushing to export solar photovoltaic modules.

　　Photo by Zhai Huiyong (people’s picture)

　　April 7, Hulunbeier City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, an agricultural hand driving agricultural machinery for field work.

　　Photo by Han Yingqun (People’s Vision)

　　On April 18th, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released data. According to the preliminary calculation, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China in the first quarter of this year was 270.178 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 4.8% at constant prices. On April 13th, China General Administration of Customs released data showing that the total import and export value of goods trade in China in the first quarter was 9.42 trillion yuan, up 10.7% year-on-year. In the face of multiple risk challenges, China’s economy faced difficulties and got off to a smooth start, which attracted great attention from foreign media.

　　Growth exceeded expectations

　　"Exceeding expectations" — — In recent days, China’s latest economic report card has attracted great attention from foreign media.

　　Reuters said that in the first quarter, China’s GDP increased by 4.8% year-on-year, exceeding the 4.4% predicted by analysts and higher than the 4% in the fourth quarter of last year; China’s GDP increased by 1.3% in the first quarter, higher than the 0.6% predicted by analysts.

　　Tass news agency pointed out that in the first quarter, in the face of multiple tests brought about by the increasingly complicated and severe international environment and frequent domestic epidemics, China’s national economy continued to recover its development trend and its economic operation was generally stable. There are foundations and conditions for China to achieve 5.5% economic growth this year.

　　According to the report on the website of Nihon Keizai Shimbun, China’s fixed asset investment remained firm in the first quarter, with an increase of 9.3%, of which infrastructure investment increased by 8.5%, which pushed China’s economic growth to exceed expectations. In addition, exports have also become the main factor driving the economy upward.

　　China’s foreign trade data in the first quarter has also become a hot topic in foreign media.

　　China’s exports of goods increased by 13.4% and imports by 7.5% in the first quarter of this year, according to Latin American News Agency. China’s export trade shows vitality and promotes a smooth start of foreign trade.

　　The New Indian Express reported that China’s foreign trade continued to grow in the first quarter despite the complicated international situation and the severe epidemic situation in COVID-19.

　　The French newspaper Echo pointed out that China’s export situation is good. ASEAN became China’s largest trading partner again in the first quarter.

　　The Russian newspaper Rodong noted that since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) came into effect on January 1 this year, the trade volume between China and RCEP member countries has increased steadily. In the first quarter, China’s import and export trade with other 14 RCEP member countries increased by 6.9% year-on-year, reaching 2.86 trillion yuan.

　　"China’s economy started strongly in 2022." Cnn pointed out. CNBC quoted analysts as saying that it is still full of confidence in the long-term resilience and vitality of China’s economy.

　　Policy continues to exert strength.

　　On April 15th, the People’s Bank of China decided to reduce the deposit reserve ratio of financial institutions by 0.25 percentage points, and continued to exert its efforts to support the real economy and stabilize the macroeconomic fundamentals. Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), commented that the China government has made efforts to reduce the negative impact of the epidemic on the economy through crisis response measures, liquidity supply, fiscal policy and financial support, and the IMF expressed support for these policy measures.

　　Reuters recently noted that the Central Bank of China indicated that it would increase financial support for industries, enterprises and people affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and guide financial institutions to expand loan lending and make reasonable profits to the real economy.

　　According to the website of Lianhe Zaobao, China stressed that efforts should be made to achieve "people’s livelihood should be guaranteed, freight should be unblocked and industries should be recycled", and efforts should be made to stabilize the supply chain of the industrial chain. The media also pointed out that maintaining a strong manufacturing industry has become the main driving force for China’s economic growth in the first quarter.

　　“‘ New infrastructure ’ The plan helps China to grow steadily. " According to a recent report on the website of Bloomberg News, at present, in addition to traditional infrastructure construction such as roads and railways, China also supports infrastructure construction in manufacturing and service industries, such as factories, industrial parks, technology incubators and even theme parks. China is also committed to turning to more advanced fields such as electric vehicles, renewable energy and microchips to ensure that China maintains its leading position in global manufacturing. In addition to creating jobs, China’s vigorous promotion of infrastructure construction is also an important measure to ensure the annual economic growth target.

　　CNBC, Bloomberg and many other foreign media pointed out that since the second half of last year, the issuance of special bonds for local governments in China has laid a foundation for accelerating infrastructure investment in the future. This shows that China is stepping up its stimulus efforts to boost the economy overshadowed by the epidemic.

　　According to Latin American News Agency, the economic and trade exchanges between China and its major trading partners are getting closer and closer, while paying attention to the internal circulation market. This year, China has put steady growth in a prominent position, at the same time, it has increased its opening to the outside world, accelerated its innovation, and made great efforts to promote high-quality economic development.

　　Promote global recovery

　　At present, under the multiple pressures of repeated epidemics, geopolitical tensions and high inflation, the uncertainty of the world economy has increased. According to Kyodo News, on April 19th, local time, the IMF predicted that the global economic growth rate would be 3.6% this year, down 0.8 percentage points from the January forecast. The growth forecasts of major developed economies such as the United States and Japan have been lowered this year.

　　As the second largest economy in the world, China’s economic performance affects the world. German news TV said that China is still the biggest driving force for global economic growth. With the gradual improvement of epidemic situation, the improvement of domestic demand in China and the economic recovery in Europe and America, the global economic development will gradually return to the right track.

　　German Economic Weekly pointed out that production and consumption in Europe and the United States are in the stage of recovery and rising, and there is still much room for improvement in demand. China’s export growth rate is expected to maintain double-digit growth. With the formal entry into force of RCEP, the economic and trade exchanges between China and ASEAN will be further expanded and deepened, and ASEAN is expected to maintain its position as the largest trading partner of China, thus promoting the overall growth of China’s foreign trade.

　　In addition, data show that in the first quarter of this year, the actual use of foreign capital in China increased by 25.6% year-on-year.

　　Maggie molnar, director of the China Policy Research Office of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, pointed out that China’s good growth prospects and further opening-up measures will help to continuously attract foreign capital inflows.

　　"China is more deeply integrated into the global economy than ever before." The New York Times recently published an article saying that globalization, as a basic trend, has not changed fundamentally, especially China has been widely integrated into the global supply chain. No matter in the past or now, the development of China is an important driving force for the globalization of trade and investment.