China’s economy to expand 8-9% this year: central bank adviser

Liu Shijin, a policy adviser to the People’s Bank of China suggested on Friday that China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could grow by 8-9% this year as it continues to show signs of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

The projected growth, however, does not imply that the world’s second-largest economy has gotten back to a high-growth period, Liu emphasized. This is since the growth would be rising from a low base in 2020 when China still managed to record a 2.3% economic growth despite the pandemic onslaught in the country.

HSBC analysts gave their own prediction and marked an 8.5% growth for the country this year, leading the global economic recovery.

Liu added that China averaging around 5% for its 2020-2021 GDP growth is decent enough.

China is set to release a government work report on March 5 which usually indicates a GDP growth target for the year. The 2020 report, however, did not include the target GDP growth since there were uncertainties induced by the coronavirus outbreak.