TWO SESSIONS

Minister: Recovery due to effective policies to resume work, boost domestic demand

China’s industrial development is expected to rebound in the second quarter with the implementation of more vigorous macroeconomic policies and measures to fully resume production, the country’s top industry regulator and experts said on Wednesday.

“The nation’s industrial economy is expected to continue its sound recovery in the second quarter, as the country has taken effective measures to resume work, boost domestic demand and strengthen macro adjustments,” Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said at a news conference on Wednesday.

In the face of mounting instabilities and uncertainty due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Miao pointed out that it will still take some time for the nation’s industrial economy to fully recover.

“If the epidemic can be gradually contained worldwide, it is expected that the industrial economy will be better in the second half than the first,” he added.

Guo Weimin, spokesman for the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said that China’s economic and social development has remained stable despite the pandemic.

“In general, China’s economy has shown its prowess as an economic powerhouse, especially its resilience and huge potential in economic development,” Guo said during a news conference on Wednesday.

By Monday, up to 99.1 percent of the nation’s large-scale companies had resumed their normal operations.

“With the resumption of work in top gear, the manufacturing sector is now in full swing. The epidemic has affected economic growth, but it will not diminish our confidence,” said Zhang Tianren, chairman of Tianneng Group, one of China’s largest battery manufacturers.

“China has obvious market advantages and we believe its long-term upward economic trend will not be changed,” said Zhang.

In particular, the machinery sector is expected to see a rebound from April, following an estimated contraction of around 20 percent in main growth indicators in the first three months of this year, according to Chen Bin, executive deputy head of the China Machinery Industry Federation.

“Market demand and production are expected to rebound starting from the second quarter. The machinery sector will return to normal in the second half of this year with a significantly higher growth rate than in the first half,” Chen said.

Deng Haiqing, an economist and visiting professor at Renmin University of China, noted that the country’s current industrial improvement was basically the result of advances in infrastructure.

“Infrastructure investment and automobile sales rebounded in the past month, proving that final demand is indeed picking up in the country,” said Deng.

In April, a total of 2.07 million vehicles were sold, up 4.4 percent year-onyear. This is the first time that vehicle sales have increased in almost two years. Industry insiders said that this is an indication the sector has returned to normal since the outbreak.