China's economic recovery provides support for multinational companies to balance global business development

 During the two sessions of the National People's Congress in 2023, topics such as China's expected economic growth goals and how to further open up to the outside world and attract and utilize foreign investment with greater efforts have attracted keen attention from the international community.

"In this year's government work report, the Chinese government emphasized the importance of 'stability'. Overall, China's GDP growth target of around 5% is very prudent and realistic." Roland Berger Global Management Committee Dai Pu, co-president of the association, said in an exclusive interview with Sinonews Finance and Economics that the relevant implementation measures proposed by the Chinese government will bring a higher level of openness, convenience and equality to foreign-funded enterprises in China, and enhance their confidence in the Chinese market.

"The Chinese government has emphasized the importance of 'stability'"

China has set its economic growth target for this year at "around 5 percent."

In this regard, Dai Pu said that the outside world has various forecasts for China's economic growth rate in 2023, ranging from a relatively conservative 4% to 5% to a more optimistic 5% to more than 6%. "Overall, I think China's GDP growth target of around 5% is very prudent and realistic."

He said, "Since 2023, we have felt that the overall market sentiment is significantly higher than last year. China's manufacturing PMI soared to 52.6% in February. At the same time, in January this year, medium and long-term loans to enterprises (institutions) increased by 35,000 100 million yuan, releasing a signal of a significant recovery in economic activity at the corporate end."

Dai Pu believes that the Chinese economy still faces many challenges. Since the fourth quarter of 2022, global market demand has slowed down and there are still uncertainties. In addition, the recovery speed of the domestic demand side is relatively slow. Therefore, China has emphasized the importance of "stability" in this year's government work report.

"It is very important to restore and enhance business confidence"

Dai Pu believes that the overall goals, development direction and priorities specified in the Chinese government work report play an important guiding role in the short-term development of the market.

"Especially this year, due to major changes in the policy and business environment, the market has shown higher expectations for China's National Two Sessions this year. The government work report has brought a certain degree of stability in an uncertain environment, which is conducive to recovery. It is very important to enhance the confidence of enterprises, including foreign-funded enterprises of course."

Dai Pu said that in the short term, this year's investment data in China will be affected to a certain extent by the uncertainty of 2022, reflecting the investment decision-making situation last year.

"However, in the medium and long term, especially in the context of the continued slowdown of the global economy, China's GDP growth target of around 5% is still higher than that of many global markets. China's economic recovery can provide support for multinational companies to balance their global business development. .At the same time, the CPI growth forecast of around 3% in 2023 (China's CPI growth of 2% in 2022) also indicates the expansion of domestic demand."

"With the introduction of more supportive policies by the Chinese government and the strong fundamentals of the Chinese economy, we believe that the Chinese market will gradually recover and remain attractive to foreign investment."

"The Chinese market is gradually becoming an important source of innovation"

The work report of the Chinese government clarified in this year's work priorities that greater efforts will be made to attract and utilize foreign capital. Expand market access and increase the opening-up of the modern service industry. Implement national treatment for foreign-funded enterprises. Do a good job in serving foreign-funded enterprises, and promote the construction of landmark foreign-funded projects.

In this regard, Dai Pu said that in the past few years, the epidemic has brought certain difficulties to the economic activities of many enterprises, which has also triggered discussions on China's positioning in the global market and its impact on new investment decisions.

"However, in January this year, Roland Berger found out during in-depth exchanges with the management of several European multinational companies that for many foreign-funded companies, China is still a very important market, and the Chinese market is gradually becoming an important source of innovation. , can strengthen and supplement the overall global competitiveness of many companies." Dai Pu emphasized that in order to better adapt to the Chinese market, many foreign capitals regard "localization" as one of the important strategies of enterprises, which will create a higher economic Investing in dynamism, better innovation and growth.

“Therefore, we believe that the relevant implementation measures proposed by the Chinese government will bring a higher level of openness, convenience and equality to foreign-funded enterprises in China, and enhance their confidence in the Chinese market. We believe that foreign capital will remain an important part of the Chinese economy. It is a component part, and as China continues to develop in the future, it will also bring more market opportunities for foreign-funded enterprises.”