Olympics not to be the dividing crest for China's economy

Experts predict that given the limited proportion of economic growth and investment increase induced by the Olympics compared with China's economic total volume, the influence of the Olympics on the country's overall economy seems insignificant. China had solemnly pledged to host a unique and successful Olympics and regarded the grand sports event a valuable momentum to further beef up its economic strength.



It was apparent that in years of preparation for the Games, the investment increase in infrastructural construction loomed large, the potential for tourist consumption at home and abroad were tapped in a great measure, and investors imposed high expectations upon China's economy. All these combined have pushed forward China's economy and are conducive to its sustained and rapid growth.



Since it won the Olympic bid in 2001, China has not only achieved an average GDP growth of 10.5 percent year-on-year; but also the most robust and lasting economic growth and the most stable economic operation ever in the three decades since the country's reform and opening up to the outside world.



The year 2008 is China's Olympic year and marks a new round in China's periodic economic restructuring. In the post-Olympics era, China will have to take measures to avert its economic situation from declining when almost all short-term economic favors created or catalyzed by the Olympics could disappear with the end of the Games.



Nevertheless, Wang Yiming, Vice Director of China's think tank Macro Economic Studies Institute, State Development and Reform Commission, pointed out as was cited at a press conference, the fundamental driving forces to sustain China's economic growth will not vanish with the end of the Olympics. "All the driving forces, such as urbanization, large-scale investment in infrastructural construction, up-graded consumption structure, increased productivity and active involvement in the globalization, have been bolstering China's economic development; and they will remain intact in post-Olympics days," he said.



Meanwhile, China has evolved into the world's fourth greatest economy. The Olympic Games could have a more tangible impact on the host city, Beijing, whose economic volume only takes up 3.6 percent of the country's total. The investment in the construction work of the Olympic venues and infrastructure totals approximately RMB 300 billion yuan. If divided on the basis of four years, as an average Olympic input period, it would be 75 billion yuan annually, which accounts for merely 0.55-1.06 percent of a typical year's total fixed assets investment in the given four years.



Considering this, the Olympics will not act as a water shed to divide China's economy, but we are bound to think about how to augment the positive effects brought about by the Olympics on China's economic development, said Mr. Wang.



By People's Daily Online