Researcher: China stimulus to boost economy by 2 percentage points

A government researcher has said that China’s US$585 billion stimulus package and other measures will boost the economy by two percentage points this year, Reuters reported, citing state media. Zhang Liqun, a researcher with the Development Research Center of the State Council, China’s cabinet, said that China’s economy would grow by 6% without government assistance, but that the stimulus package, a moderately easy monetary policy and a US$139 billion fiscal deficit would all help to put economic growth over the government target of 8%. “I’m fully confident that China’s economy will expand by 8% year-on-year, or even faster than that, in 2009,” Zhang told a forum in Bejing on Saturday. Zhang said economic growth may slow to 6% in the first quarter before gradually picking up due in part to improving auto and housing markets.