Workers are busy on the production lines at the workshop of Dongfeng Passenger Vehicle Company in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, March 24, 2020. Wuhan, China's "motor city" and the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, has allowed car producers and auto part suppliers to resume work recently. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
The restart of the "World's Factory" will not only help China put its economic and social development back on track, but also relieve pressure on the world economy and safeguard the common interests of the global community.
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- As the coronavirus pandemic fanned panic about a global economic recession, production in all walks of society in China is springing back to life, buying time for the world economy to avert a crisis.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is in an inspection tour in eastern China's Zhejiang Province on the resumption of work and production. It highlights the importance of economic and ecological development as the country has generally contained the coronavirus outbreak within its territory.
Xi visited an industrial park and met with representatives of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) returning to work, and toured a mountainous village where he put forward the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets." Fifteen years ago, when he was the Party chief of Zhejiang.
Xi's inspection tour promotes high-quality, inclusive and coordinated development, which projects stability into a vulnerable global economy when confidence is in urgent need.
Gloomy prospects surrounded the world economy in 2020 amid the pandemic. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected a contraction of global output in 2020. Many observers warned of a world-wide recession unseen in decades.
China is ahead of the rest of the world in terms of being impacted, responding to and containing the coronavirus. Now it is leading the world in stepping up production.
Staff make masks at the mask producing workshop of Foxconn in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province, March 17, 2020. Shenzhen has seen more than 97 percent of the industrial enterprises above designated size and the key projects resume operation. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)
Compared with many advanced economies that are faced with risks of negative interest rates and running out of ammunition, China has more ample room for policy adjustment on monetary and fiscal fronts.
The People's Bank of China pumped liquidity into the market through seven-day reverse repos while cutting its interest rate by 20 basis points on Monday to support the economy. China still has ample monetary policy space and tools at disposal since it remains the only major economy that keeps a normal monetary policy. In addition, a substantial amount of financial resources will be unleashed if the government raises the fiscal deficit ratio further.
An important part of the work of boosting the economy is to help the most vulnerable such as SMEs. China has rolled out supportive policies in fiscal, credit, employment and logistics for the SMEs. Xi signaled more targeted measures to help those hit by the epidemic restart production and further develop.
Ecological protection and green development are also on the agenda. As Xi has put it during his tour in Zhejiang, the ecological environment itself is the economy. All the ecological protection efforts will be rewarded. Besides, the government is harnessing synergies of the policies related to employment, industries, investment, consumption and regional development.
Different from past experiences featuring flood-like stimulus, China has shifted to a more nuanced, precise and targeted approach to bolster the economy.
Positive changes have emerged. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector came in at 52.3 in March, up from 29.6 in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.
The restart of the "World's Factory" will not only help China put its economic and social development back on track, but also relieve pressure on the world economy and safeguard the common interests of the global community.
It is an urgent task for the international community to make concerted efforts in fighting the pandemic and provide support and convenience for the steady growth of international trade and economic growth.
While China must slacken no efforts to contain imported cases of infections, the resumption of work and production brooks no delay. Step by step, the strong resilience of the Chinese economy will be released, boding well for global growth. ■
