Growth beyond mediocrity

The Chinese economy is still able to maintain a growth rate over the middle to long term that is much higher than the world's average if it works to tap its economic potential, says a People's Daily article.

US economist Lawrence Summers has forecast that China's economic growth will slow to 5 percent by 2023 and to a level slightly higher than 3 percent from 2023 to 2033. Such a forecast seems compatible with the "new mediocrity", which believes an economy will decelerate to a level slightly higher than 3 percent after a high-speed growth like the one China has experienced, but it may underestimate China's potential.

The 3 percent average global economic growth in recent years does not mean all countries will inevitably maintain such a rate. China's growth will be decided by its own economic potential and policy measures rather than by a "universal rule". The full knowledge about its new economic normal and ongoing economic deceleration, along with a series of measures to voluntarily adapt itself to such new developments, will help China transcend the "new mediocrity" some Western economists are predicting for it.