UPBEAT CHINA:PRESIDENT HU Jintao was in confident mood ahead of the G20 meeting in London, saying China's 4-trillion yuan (€450 billion) stimulus package was working and he was upbeat on steady and rapid growth, while calling for an overhaul of the global financial system.
China was confident of ensuring “stable and fast” economic growth this year, although the world’s third-largest economy is facing increasing difficulties amid the global financial crisis, he told the official Xinhua news agency.
China will be looking for “positive” results from the meeting of leaders of the world’s 20 largest industrial and developing nations.
Mr Hu has called for strengthened co-ordination to stabilise the international financial market “as soon as possible”, to adopt varied stimulus packages to revive the economy, and to work against trade protectionism.
He also urged “all-round, balanced, gradual and effective reforms of the international financial system . . . to prevent a similar [financial] crisis in the future”.
One of these proposals is a call for an alternative reserve currency to the dollar, with the suggestion of greater use of International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights. The Chinese leader said his country would continue to open up its economy, which will benefit China and the rest of the world, and would deepen co-ordination with foreign currencies on policies and reform of the international financial system, Xinhua reported.
China’s economy has slowed considerably on the back of dying export demand, but it is still expanding, even if the overall picture is mixed.
