With a comprehensive package of pro-market reforms, China could grow considerably faster than a status quo scenario, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday.
"This additional growth would amount to a 20% expansion of the real economy over the next 15 years, in today’s terms, that is like adding $3.5 trillion to the Chinese economy," Georgieva said in a speech to the China Development Forum.
Decisive steps to reduce the stock of unfinished housing and giving more space for market-based corrections in the property sector could accelerate a solution to current property sector problems and lift up consumer and investor confidence, she said.
China will carefully study issues of market access and cross-border data flows and will soon issue new regulations in these areas, Premier Li Qiang told an audience of global CEOs and Chinese policymakers on Sunday.
"We cordially welcome companies from all countries to invest in China and deepen their foothold in China," Li said.
China is also pushing to develop emerging industries such as biological manufacturing and will step up development of artificial intelligence and the data economy, Li told the China Development Forum in Beijing.
Beijing on Tuesday eased some rules on foreign investment, after investment inflows shrank nearly 20% in the January-February period. China's cyberspace regulator on Friday relaxed some security rules on data exports that had worried foreign firms in China.
China's inflation rate and the central government's debt burden are relatively low, leaving room for further macro policy steps, Li told the two-day forum. He pointed to measures China rolled out last year to defuse property and debt risks, which he said have been effective.
Li cited 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in previously announced ultra-long special treasury bonds, which he said will spur investment and stabilize economic growth.
China's $18 trillion economy, the world's second-largest, faces headwinds including a property crisis, local government debt woes, industrial overcapacity, deflationary risks and cooling foreign investment.
Organized annually by Beijing since 2000, the high-level forum is an opportunity for global CEOs and Chinese policymakers to discuss foreign investment. Regular attendees include Apple CEO Tim Cook and Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio.
