Economists warn of challenges ahead

China should prepare for challenges ahead with the global economy set to slow further this year and domestic demand likely weakens, economists told a forum on Saturday.

“We face quite some economic challenges this year,” Xia Bin, a research fellow and counselor of the State Council, said duing the forum hosted by Fanhai International School of Finance under Fudan University.

“China’s economic growth is losing steam when the overall global environment further deteriorates. At the same time, domestic demand has seen signs of weakening,” Xia said.

What needs caution is that the monetary stimulants may be less effective than before when China’s economy has grown to today’s size, Xia added.

Guan Tao, a senior researcher under the standing committee of the China Finance 40 Forum, said trade conflicts may become a norm, and people needed to get ready for uncertainties coming along with constant trade negotiations.

But compared with the global performance, China’s growth will still be among the fastest, the economists said.

Last week, the World Bank predicted that global economic growth will slow to 2.9 percent in 2019 from a downwardly revised 3 percent in 2018 amid rising downside risks. It also estimated that China's economic growth will slow to 6.2 percent in 2019 from 6.5 percent in 2018 as domestic and external rebalancing continues.