Hong Kong
CNN
—
China’s newly minted Premier Li Qiang painted a strong picture of his country’s economic recovery at a key business forum this week, as Beijing seeks to win the hearts of global investors and economic leaders after emerging from prolonged isolation from the pandemic.
“The dynamism and momentum of China’s economic development is strong,” Li said Thursday in a keynote speech at the Boao Forum for Asia, a four-day gathering of international business leaders and politicians on the island. in Hainan in China.
The forum often promotes itself as the “Asian Davos” and Li is tasked with reviving the world’s second-largest economy at a time of sluggish growth.
“The [economic] March’s performance is better than January and February,” Li said, adding that major indicators such as consumption and investment are improving.
China, he said, will launch new measures to boost domestic consumption and increase market access for foreign business while ensuring the stability of the financial sector.
“You are all welcome to visit China and see,” Li told the audience.
A day earlier, Li met with IMF President Kristalina Georgieva in Boao, saying the country is “confident and capable” of hitting this year’s GDP growth target, which is “about 5%.”
The Boao Forum for Asia has been held annually since 2001, but was suspended in 2020 due to the pandemic. This year’s meeting will be the first fully offline session in three years.
Prominent attendees this year include Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Li’s efforts to paint an optimistic picture about China’s outlook come as he launches intensive measures to boost foreign confidence and mend many international relations at a time when no’ y factor growth.
The new premier, a trusted ally of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, took office earlier this month as Xi cemented his grip on power.
The slowdown is due, in part, to systemic issues that have plagued the economy for years, such as high levels of debt and a shrinking labor force. But the problems have been exacerbated by the Communist Party’s ill-fated and draconian zero-Covid policy, which ended late last year, and a sharp crackdown on private business.
The measures resulted in weak business confidence, sluggish investment and rising unemployment. The youth unemployment rate, in particular, hit more than 18% last month.
Concerns about foreign capital leaving China have grown.
For the first time in 25 years, the American Chamber of Commerce in China found in its annual survey of members that less than half of respondents consider China as one of their top three investment destinations. .
Hong Kong’s AmCham also found in a separate survey that the number of businesses saying they plan to leave in the next three years has nearly doubled.
To boost business confidence, China’s new economic leadership is trying to reassure foreign businesses and the local private sector.
This week, Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, seen as a symbol of China’s technology industry and a barometer of the Chinese government’s support for private enterprise, returned to mainland China in a rare display of public.
Shortly after his return, Alibaba announced a significant change to split its business into six separate units. Both could be part of Beijing’s plan intended to boost market sentiment at a critical moment, analysts said.
