Interview: More foreign businesses invest in China after COVID-19 response measures optimization: Pakistani economist

Vehicles under production are transferred through the office area at the Tiexi Plant of BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd. in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Feb. 16, 2022. (Xinhua/Yang Qing)

ISLAMABAD, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- As China has optimized its COVID-19 response measures, a lot of foreign businesses and investors start to invest in the country, a Pakistani economist told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"I see a lot of foreign investment coming into China to play their role to enhance their trade and of course they will be having relatively much lower operating cost in China," said Badiea Shaukat, an economic consultant at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, an Islamabad-based think-tank.

Shaukat said that the policy optimization had been a requirement of the hour since the whole world was in dire need of trade, especially in the tech and health sector.

He said COVID-19 disrupted the entire global supply chain when many countries imposed restrictions on their trade activities. However, the businesses were operational in China due to its effective anti-pandemic measures which helped address the international demand to a significant extent.

Shaukat said China's optimization in COVID-19 response measures would result in significant growth of Chinese exports while supporting the country to increase employment opportunities, warm up consumption and control the inflation rate.

China's digital economy, ranking the second worldwide, has been a major growth engine for the country which is likely to boost the overall economic activity in 2023, he said.

Shaukat said the world is becoming increasingly dependent on digital networking and financial inclusion, and China has a well-established digital system.

According to a recent report by the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies, the value of China's digital economy reached about 6.3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2021, accounting for 39.8 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

"So with new policies in place, we will see a huge boost and significant contribution from the Chinese digital economy towards the whole world's digital economy."

Highlighting the global food and climate crises, Shaukat noted that China is paying special attention to enhancing investments in these sectors to mitigate their impacts internationally.

He said that due to the pandemic and many conflicts, the rising food prices internationally is a major concern for the world. The growth in the Chinese economy would help control the international price hike, especially the food inflation.