(CCTV)
China is able to maintain an 8-percent annual growth for at least 20 years, said former World Bank chief economist Justin Yifu Lin Thursday.
“The economic growth relies on a continuous improvement on labor productivity, and the premise of that is to continually innovate technologies, upgrade and update the industries. It’s the same case no matter in developed countries or in developing countries,” said Lin, at a press conference held during the ongoing first session of the 12th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Lin is also a member of the National Committee of the CPPCC, the country’s top political advisory body.
Lin said he was not talking big, as China’s economy has great potentials in capitalizing on the late-mover advantages.
He also illustrated that to weigh up the late-mover advantages, one can evaluate and calculate the per capita income levels based on the purchasing power. The index represents the country’s average labor productivity, and reflects its average technology and industry levels.
And according to the index, China’s current per capital income accounts for 20 percent of that in the United States. And the gap between China and U.S. amounts to the gap between Japan and US in early 1950s, that between Singapore and U.S. in the middle of 1950s and that between South Korea and U.S. in the middle of 1970s.
“The economic development model is the same in East-Asia. If they capitalize on the late-mover advantages, they can maintain, and actually they have realized the annual growth of 7.6 to 9.2 percent in 20 years. I believe, capitalizing the late-mover advantages, we should have the potential to maintain the eight-percent annual growth for 20 years,” said Lin.
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