MANILA (APP) – China’s economy, as well as Asia’s, are unlikely to slow down sharply this year despite Chinese stock turmoil that has rocked global financial markets, the Asian Development Bank president said Friday.
Sharp selloffs in the Chinese stock markets this week have renewed fears about the fate of the world’s second-largest economy and the knock-on effects across the globe.
“I don’t have a very pessimistic view about China,” ADB president Takehiko Nakao told reporters in Manila, adding the bank was maintaining its 6.7-percent economic growth forecast this year for China.
This would only be slightly lower than its 6.9-percent growth projection for the country in 2015. Developing Asia as a whole, which has been highly dependent on China, should grow 6.0 percent, or up from 5.8 percent forecast for 2015, Nakao said.
Nakao said China was successfully undertaking important reforms, such as making its economy less reliant on investment and more on domestic consumer demand.
