China's measures to cut trade surplus good for world economy: U.S. economist

Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-20 19:13:41|Editor: ZX
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BEIJING, May 20 (Xinhua) -- China has implemented measures to cut its trade surplus and restructure its economy, which is good for the world economy, Adam Posen, president of Peterson Institute of International Economics (PIIE), told Xinhua in an interview.

"China's economics has changed on the fundamentals," Posen said. "The saving share of the Chinese economy is much lower and the consumption share of growth has been growing."

If China continues slowly reducing its rate of savings, it will be in the interests of both China and the world. It is a clear result of policy and makes the economy more stable and efficient, said Posen.

"China is on the right track on the broad macro-issues," he said.

According to Posen, China's global surplus is between 1 percent to 2 percent of its GDP, which is a very reasonable figure for any country. "It is very different from what we've seen 10 or 15 years ago," he said.

China's current account surplus stood at 164.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, accounting for 1.3 percent of GDP, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). Before the global financial crisis in 2008, the percentage share was about 10 percent.

In the first quarter of 2018, China had a trade surplus of 326.2 billion yuan (about 51.2 billion U.S. dollars), down 21.8 percent year on year.

China has reaffirmed its stance that it does not seek a trade surplus and is continuously expanding imports, which will bring new opportunities for other countries to share the country's market dividends.

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