ABUJA: According to a Nigerian researcher, China’s Q1 economic growth rate shows that the country has been able to overcome economic shocks and maintain a steady momentum of expansion, continuing to make huge contributions to global recovery.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Charles Onunaiju, head of the Center for China Studies in Abuja, stated that China’s structural changes have increased the country’s economy’s strength and durability.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China’s GDP increased by 4.8 percent year on year in the first quarter, exceeding the 4-percent pace recorded in the previous quarter.
“China’s success is not surprising, in my opinion. Pulling out 4.8 percent in the first quarter, 2022 was a solid one, which is the best among major countries,” said the expert, who has produced numerous books on the China-Africa collaboration and growth.
China’s has been strengthening the domestic market, while allowing it to engage “productively and energetically” with the international market, said Onunaiju, noting that “this measure of strengthening the key fundamentals … has been a very solid foundation through which China has been able to fend off the worst of shocks.”
“We must acknowledge the basics of China’s economy. China has been implementing structural reforms aimed at setting the fundamentals for change, shifting the economy from low-end manufacturing to high-end services, and from innovation-driven to market-driven “He stated to Xinhua.
“Even when such unanticipated shocks as the epidemic occurred,” Onunaiju observed, “the very robust foundations of these fundamental economic categories were able to absorb it.”
While noting that China has struck a balance between epidemic control and economic and social development, the scholar believes that the country’s recent efforts to strengthen economic fundamentals and create a unified domestic market will allow it to overcome other shocks and maintain a steady growth momentum.
According to the researcher, China’s present economic development and performance will have a significant influence on global recovery.
China, as a key trading partner for hundreds of economies, is without a doubt a very vital market that would aid economies in their recovery. According to Onunaiju.
“The strong infrastructure expenditure of China’s Belt and Road Initiative would also sustain the momentum of jobs in many nations. The majority of the partner countries… will gain from it as well “He stated.
