BIS: China Grows Faster Than Other Asian Countries

China has grown faster than other Asian countries although output growth has been on a slowing trend for several years, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) said in its 70th annual report published Monday.

The report, covering the period between April 1999 and March 2000, said that the authorities in China sought to ease monetary conditions by lowering nominal interest rates and cutting reserve requirements while confronted with falling prices and rising unemployment.

"They also directed banks to increase credit for infrastructure, housing and exports, provide more working capital to state-owned enterprises and grant more consumer credit," the BIS said.

In China, exports were stimulated in the latter half of 1999 by an increase in tax rebates, according to the BIS. Partly as a result of a crackdown on smuggling, there was a particularly large rise in reported imports in China.

Various patterns of rest+ructuring are also beginning to emerge in China, where the state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform agenda has focused on improving management and governance, according to the BIS report. Large SOEs are being corporatized and many are forming joint ventures with foreign investors, while small SOEs are quickly moving out of the state sector, the report said.

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