Beijing’s Decision Could Provoke Intl. Trade War: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – China’s decision to concentrate its economic efforts on manufacturing could trigger a new trade war with other global industrial powers, according to a news website.
With the growth dampened by economic troubles such as the lingering effects of the global coronavirus pandemic and the real-estate sector crisis that has plagued the country for the last two years, Beijing has begun to invest heavily in the manufacturing sector.
This strategy is reflected in the sharp increase in lending to industrial enterprises, which increased by 38.2% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2023, according to data from China’s central bank. In comparison, outstanding loans to the property sector fell by 0.2% in the same period, RT reported.
The overall investment in the manufacturing sector also hiked, by 6.3% in the first nine months of 2023 year-on-year and by 11.3% in high-tech manufacturing in particular, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
Meanwhile, China has attained a surplus of produced goods that has reached around 2% of global GDP (gross domestic product), a level unseen since the US after World War II, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
Analysts estimate that about 45% of China’s manufactured goods are exported, from cars to washing machines, since domestic demand is unable to keep up with output. Beijing has been particularly successful in producing and exporting electric vehicles, batteries, and solar panels.
The value of such exports grew 42% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2023, according to official statistics, the report added.
