HARARE, May 13 (Xinhua) — China boasts a bright economic outlook, buoyed by high domestic and foreign consumption of Chinese goods and the development of high-level services, experts on China have said.
Manyika Kangai, a pundit advising African businesses and governments on trade with China, told Xinhua recently that the future development trend of the Chinese economy would focus on high-quality economic growth.
“I see the Chinese economy moving away from growth based on low-cost manufacturing, exports and investment to growth based on high-level services mainly driven by technology, green industries and consumption,” said Kangai, who graduated from Donghua University in Shanghai.
According to Zimbabwean economist Paul Musodza, the Chinese economy is expected to continue its growth due to strong domestic and foreign consumption.
He said that China’s current population “is huge enough to consume goods, and that will accelerate investments,” adding that exports will continue providing momentum for China’s growth.
According to the experts, China’s huge consumer market also contains excellent opportunities for Zimbabwean companies to tap.
Kangai said that Zimbabwean companies “should focus on providing high-level services, supplying products needed by green industries, such as lithium, and pushing goods into the Chinese market that appeal to Chinese consumers.”
“Many Chinese companies are now inventing new methods of making goods to feed an upper-class Chinese market… So it’s up to the Zimbabwean government to help its small businesses to invest in China for the low and middle-income community,” Musodza said.
For both experts, Western countries decoupling from China is not feasible since they are already deeply intertwined with the Chinese economy.
Almost all countries trade with China, said Musodza, noting that China has much to offer. A peaceful China is also making China attractive to many countries.
Some Western companies are only profitable in China, not in the European Union or the United States. He said it makes sense for them to increase investments in China for good returns than to invest in other markets.
In addition, Musodza added, the world cannot be decoupled from China-proposed initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative because more countries need them to stimulate domestic investments.