WB Releases Latest Report on China's Economy

BEIJING, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank (WB) has released the Chinese edition of its latest report on China's economy, titled "China: Weathering the Storm and Learning the Lessons," according to the WB's Resident Mission in China.

The report analyzes how China has responded to the domestic and global challenges of the last two years, the effectiveness of the macroeconomic policy stance, the continuation of reforms in the financial and enterprise sectors, and the expanded measures to address the social agenda of employment and poverty reduction in the face of macroeconomic shocks.

The report argues that the major policy issue facing China is how to respond to the near-term growth pressures in ways that reinforce structural reform and economic development.

As implementation of reform proceeds and new storm clouds emerge, policy-makers will have to focus on pro-growth reforms that support the development of the labor-absorbing service sector, it said.

At the same time, restructuring of enterprises and strengthening of corporate governance must remain high priorities, in order to both tackle the corporate debt problem and release assets for productive activities.
The report stresses that China's strategy needs to support structural measures that increase household demand by raising rural incomes and providing adequate fiscal support for safety-net programs. Increasing household demand is essential to growth recovery and to the successful transformation of China into a demand-driven economy that serves Chinese households.

The report was done by the WB in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Finance, WB sources said.