China 'boosts East Asian growth'
The World Bank has upped its 2009 growth forecast for China from 7.2% to 8.4%, but says the nation needs to encourage more consumer spending.
Consumer spending has remained high in China (around 15+ per year) since the world financial crisis began maintaining demand for western consumer products, vehicles, fashion items and luxury goods such as champagne.
The Washington-based body also raised its projection of 2009 GDP growth in East Asia as a whole to 6.7% from 5.3%, thanks to China's strong growth.
The World Bank also said that China, boosted by a recent stimulus plan, must move away from an industry and investment-based economy.
"The economic rebound in East Asia and the Pacific has been surprisingly swift and very welcome, but take China out of the equation and the regional picture is less rosy," the bank said in a report.
"The rebound has yet to become a recovery."
Stimulus package
At the end of 2008, the Chinese government announced a 4 trillion yuan (US$586bn) stimulus plan involving increased spending on infrastructure to boost the domestic economy.
In China stimulus spending has gone mostly to building roads and other public works projects.
Earlier this week, data showed China's manufacturing sector had grown in October at its fastest rate in 18 months.
But the World Bank warned that manufacturing industries would be under pressure next year as the impact of the stimulus faded away.
It also said China could no longer rely on exports and investment to drive growth and had to encourage its own consumers to increase spending.
"We think that now that the government has basically succeeded in dampening the impact of the global crisis, it's a good time to concentrate and focus effort on rebalancing the economy and getting more growth out of the domestic economy," said Louis Kuijs, the bank's chief China economist.
"This calls for more emphasis on consumption and services and less emphasis on investment and industry."
