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China is capable of hitting its target of 7.5% for annual growth despite a slowdown in expansion of the world’s second-largest economy, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said yesterday.
“I’m encouraged by the Chinese government’s commitment to reforms, to sustain growth and improve the lives of its people,” Kim said in Shanghai at the start of a four-day visit to China.
“Data released in August suggests that economic growth is stabilising and China’s growth goal for this year appears within reach,” he said, mentioning its official target of 7.5%.
Kim said the World Bank was supporting China’s reforms of its fiscal system, financial regulation, land rights and social programmes as the ruling Communist Party tries to rebalance the economy away from its reliance on exports and investment.
“Achieving sustainable and clean growth is a big part of this goal,” he said. “It links directly to a fundamental challenge in our fight against poverty — climate change.”
Kim said his visit would focus on climate change, “a real and present danger which can set back years of development progress, hitting the poor hardest.”
“China is now the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions by volume,” he said. “But China is also becoming a bigger part of the solution in the fight against climate change.”
Kim said he planned to discuss the role of financial institutions in supporting small and medium enterprises and building energy efficiency in Shanghai.
He was also scheduled to meet top officials in Beijing to focus on urbanisation, including an ongoing joint study to develop a “new model of urbanisation for China,” the bank said.
China’s annual economic growth fell to 7.8% last year, the lowest since 1999, and it is expected to be marginally below that figure this year.