Experts from across the globe have expressed confidence that China's strong economic performance will help spur a global economic rebound, after the world's second largest economy got off to a good start in the first quarter of this year by beating expectations.
According to preliminary estimates, China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter reached 29,629.9 billion yuan (over 4,095 billion U.S. dollars), up 5.3 percent year on year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
"China's performance for this first quarter exceeds all expectations, it grew by 5.3 percent [in] GDP. And this is great news for the world as China is one of the largest commercial partners for a large number of countries. The role of the policies of the Chinese government was critical in this good performance of the economy, as there was a cut of interest rates, also there was a boost of investment in infrastructure. And I'm confident of the future of China during 2024," said Andres Cardenas, former Minister of Trade, Industry, and Tourism in Colombia.
Kong Tuan Yuen, a research fellow at the East Asian Institute (EAI) under the National University of Singapore, highlighted that China's economy and international trade have shown positive signs, maintaining stable growth while improving the overall quality of trade.
"The strong start of the first quarter showed that the economy is stable and grows steady. Looking at the manufacturing, the output from factories increased by 6.1 percent. Manufacturing is even better [and] grows by 6.7 percent. About the international trade, Chinese international trade has held up pretty well. In the first quarter, trade reached over 10 trillion yuan for the first time during the period of this year, up by 5 percent. Trade with countries involved in the BRI did even better, growing by 5.5 percent," he said.
In the latest edition of report on the World Economic Outlook by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), economic growth in China is projected to run at 4.6 percent in 2024 and 4.1 percent in 2025, remaining unchanged from the previous report.
IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said that China's higher than expected GDP growth might influence further revisions to the country's economic growth forecasts.
"Last night, it was released that China's GDP year on year for the first quarter was 5.3 percent. This is higher than the estimates. It is certainly higher also than the estimates we had here at the Fund. So the team will be assessing how they're revising their growth projections for the annual numbers, and it might be revised upwards," said Gourinchas.
China is committed to the development of new quality productive forces and insists on opening up to the outside world at a high level, constantly creating opportunities for global development, according to experts.
"The good performance of China, the growth of GDP is impactful to the world, because they are going out. This high level opening up is not only opening up for bilateral relationships, you know those diplomatic relationships, they are industrial developments that are taking part within this agenda of high level opening up of China. So naturally, when we all become economically empowered by the technology that is coming here, when that is happening like in Zambia, for instance, and many parts of Africa, we become resilient and we cannot easily be knocked out when the economic shocks come," said Elias Mpondela, Vice Chairman of Zambia-China Business Friendship Association.
Kulthirath Pakawachkrilers, president of the Thailand E-Commerce Association (Theca) pointed out that China's economy has grown into a new model for emerging economies across the globe, with many countries seeking development opportunities with the world's second largest economy.
"China's economy continues to develop, with GDP growth reaching 5.3 percent in the first quarter, fully demonstrating the resilience of China's economic development, and at the same time supporting the world economy, which is in line with China's position as a global economic leader, and many countries are following China forward. We organized Thai e-commerce enterprises to visit China and saw a lot of innovative economic models and new business opportunities, and felt China's global leadership in innovation and science and technology, which is also witnessed by many countries. China's economy has become a new role model for countries around the world to learn from, especially neighboring countries that want to develop together with China," said Kulthirath.
China's GDP growth to help boost global economic rebound: experts
