UN official cautiously optimistic about China's growth in 2009

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-28 10:56

A senior UN official on Friday expressed cautiously optimistic views about China's economic outlook, in particular achieving a goal of an 8-percent growth rate in 2009.

"I do not think it is unfeasible (for China to achieve the 8- percent growth rate) because the Chinese fiscal stimulus is one of the strongest so far," said Jomo Kwame Sundaram, assistant secretary-general on economic development, told reporters in a UN briefing, in response to a question by Xinhua about prospects of the Chinese economy.

Sundaram was briefing reporters about a new UN report on economic prospects in Asia and the Pacific launched by UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

The report, entitled "Addressing Triple Threats to Development," predicted that the Chinese economy, though still one of the most robust worldwide, will grow by only 7.5 percent in 2009, the lowest in recent years.

While emphasizing the importance of delivering stimulus packages to help reverse the current economic downturn, Sundaram said that "new money," instead of the method of "double-counting," should be used to achieve real effects.

"The Chinese government has the resources for that (new money), " he said.

He also said that spending should be boosted in "sectors of the population which have been relatively neglected -- rural infrastructure, rural health and education."

"The knock-on effects of that can be very very positive for economic growth," he said.

While many countries are unveiling stimulus plans, Sundaram cautioned against a "tendency to confuse bail-outs or rescue packages with the stimulus packages," saying that it is important to distinguish between the two.

"In the case of the Chinese, I believe most of the numbers which have been talked about are clearly stimulus measures," he added.

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