Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, is interviewed by Xinhua in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 10, 2019. China's economy will grow with more balance and higher quality in the future, Michele Geraci said. (Xinhua/Liu Yongqiu)
ROME, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- China's economy will grow with more balance and higher quality in the future, a former Italian official said.
"I moved from London to China in 2008," Michele Geraci, former undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, started with his fluent Chinese in a recent interview with Xinhua.
Having lived in China for ten years, Geraci said he has witnessed "huge changes" in China.
"For example, there was basically no use of WeChat (for payment) the first time I went to China, while nowadays there is basically no use of cash. This is one of the biggest changes," he said.
He also mentioned the fast developement of high-speed railways in China.
When it comes to China's slowdown of GDP growth, Geraci sees the brighter side of the country's economic transformation.
"Although China's GDP growth no longer reaches 8 percent or 9 percent as it did in the past, it still has a growth rate of more than 6 percent. And the quality of its development is better because it is more balanced," said the Italian economist.
"Actually in many fields, let's say high-speed railways, Internet and Artificial Intelligence, China's development is relatively fast and successful," he said.
Geraci also expressed his optimism about the future development of China's economy. The quality of the GDP growth in the next decade will be "much higher", he said.
