China's economic recovery has great importance for world, says OECD expert

PARIS - The full recovery of the Chinese economy is of great importance for the world, Margit Molnar, head of the China Desk of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"China was the first country to fully recover. Look at the GDP (gross domestic product) data in the third quarter in seasonally adjusted terms, it has already reached the pre-crisis levels," said the chief China economist at the Paris-based organization.

"That has a very big importance for the world because it means the second biggest economy in the world has recovered. This means a huge source of demand for all the other countries," she said.

Even before it reached its full recovery, China had been able to provide all the goods that had been in demand in other countries, for instance, masks and other protective equipment in very large quantities in the first quarter of this year, Molnar noted.

"Then it (China) was switching towards goods required by the new way of life with tele-working, including computer-related goods and also furniture and parts and home appliances. Small private producers and exporters have been flexible enough to jump at whatever there's demand for to produce those goods," she said.

"So, China has been supporting the fight against the pandemic in the sense of providing all the protection materials and equipment, and also in the sense of providing help for other countries to switch to this new work style of tele-working," she said.

Considering China's recovery seems to be continuing, the expert said what can be expected is that China will both further provide the goods demanded by other countries and also recover its demand not only for raw materials, but also for consumption goods. "Then there will be increasing demand also for foreign consumption goods," she said.

Commenting on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement recently signed among the 15 Asia-Pacific nations, Molnar said that its importance goes beyond the participants in the agreement, "as this can also be a platform to access third-country markets."

This agreement is proof of the importance of regional and international cooperation, the expert noted, saying that "cooperation is something that we have always been promoting and supporting."

"We very much welcome such trade agreements which increase cooperation; they reduce transaction costs, thereby enhancing economic efficiency," she said.