World Economic Forum (WEF) President Borge Brende said on Thursday that he was optimistic about the economic outlook for China in the medium and long-term.
"We are expecting that the measures taken by China and the Chinese authorities will lead to a revival of growth" and are optimistic about the medium- and long-term economic development in China, Brende said, adding that as for the rest of the world, "the coming year is going to be a bumpy year."
The WEF president made the remarks as data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on July 15 that China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 2.5 percent year on year in the first half of 2022.
Foreign Business in China:
Speaking of China's current business environment for foreign enterprises, Brende said that the Chinese market is "a big home market," and that for many companies, China is of huge interest, both for foreign direct investments and for manufacturing.
The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, in its annual "European Business in China Business Confidence Survey 2022" released in June, said that most European companies posted positive revenues and were profitable in 2021.
The WEF president emphasized that China's role in stabilizing global economic growth amidst multi-fold challenges was crucial.
"If you look at the past three decades, China's growth has been historic and we have not seen any country in history that has been eradicating poverty like we have seen in China," Brende said.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Report 2022, released on July 7, estimated that an additional 75 million to 95 million people could fall into extreme poverty this year.
China announced last year that absolute poverty had been eradicated in the world's most populous country and that it had lifted the final 98.99 million impoverished rural residents out of poverty by the end of 2020.