China’s efforts, focusing on supporting the corporate sector and consumption, will help achieve economic growth in excess of 6% this year, despite headwinds from a sluggish and uncertain external environment, Pinelopi Goldberg, Chief Economist of the World Bank, said. However, global growth is likely to slow further this year due to downside risks from sharper-than-expected decelerations in major economies and bouts of financial market stress, she said before the China Development Forum (CDF) 2019 in Beijing. This year, China has set a growth target of between 6% and 6.5%, lower than the “around 6.5%” goal in 2018, when the GDP growth came in at 6.6%. “We do not yet see a major threat to China’s goals this year,” said Goldberg.

“We agree with Premier Li Keqiang’s comments in the annual Government Work Report this year that China should at present refrain from using a deluge of stimulus policies.” Goldberg said that China’s plan to reduce CNY2 trillion of taxes and fees this year is an attempt to provide some relief to the corporate sector and support smoother economic rebalancing. “China has the fiscal space and so it is appropriate that it considers using it, with due caution, to counter global economic headwinds,” Goldberg said. Many economies also face the challenge of rising debt, warned the World Bank economist. In China, the government is taking measures to rein in credit growth and shadow banking and prevent wasteful public investments. Policies to improve the business climate have also been put in place, including the newly approved Foreign Investment Law (FIL). The moves will reduce financial risks and contribute to an improvement in corporate profitability and productivity, although some easing of macro-economic policy is still warranted, according to the World Bank economist.

“China should not lose focus in reducing financial risks, and we have confidence that it will succeed in this difficult task,” said Goldberg. In an earlier interview with China Daily, Zhu Min, former Deputy Managing Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that China’s debt level has stabilized since last year, although deleveraging is not an easy task to achieve. “Currently, we see a little bit of easing of monetary policy, but it is still in a neutral position, which fits the macro-economic situation quite well,” said Zhu. Goldberg suggested China address the critical challenges of a rapidly aging population and environmental degradation, the China Daily reports.

The second edition of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), to be held this year, is set to be larger in scale and better in quality than its inaugural version last year, said the event’s organizers. More than half of the exhibition area has been booked and the number of enterprises confirming their participation has exceeded half of the planned number, said the organizers. Statistics from the CIIE Bureau show that 812 companies from 72 countries and regions had signed agreements to attend this year’s expo as of March 15. Altogether they have booked 180,000 square meters, accounting for more than half of the planned business exhibition section, which will be expanded from 270,000 square meters last year to 300,000 sq m this year.

Companies in the fields of food, agricultural products, medical care, and quality life that were very popular among enterprise and individual purchasers at the first CIIE have shown a great interest in particular in participating in the expo this year, according to Zhang Weimin, Vice General Manager of the Shanghai International Trade Promotion Co. Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said that some exhibition areas, such as for healthcare, have been fully booked.

Compared with the inaugural expo that took place from November 5-10 in Shanghai, the scale of the second CIIE will be bigger with more exhibitors. The event’s business exhibition section will feature seven categories as well as an outdoor exhibition area to accommodate more exhibitors. Areas dedicated to consumer electronics, smart household appliances and consumer goods are also among those that have been expanded for the second expo, which will occupy three exhibition halls in the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai). High-end equipment will become the largest exhibition category, the China Daily reports.

Truck freight between China and Europe is set to increase substantially after a vehicle loaded with high-tech manufacturing equipment successfully completed the 11,000 kilometer road journey from Dornstadt in Germany to Shanghai in two weeks. The freight-laden truck crossed Germany, Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan before entering China for the final leg of its journey. It was also the first Europe-to-Shanghai truck freight by the Suzhou-based logistics company Suzhou Daoxin Supply Chain Management Co. Due to adverse weather conditions, the customer could not use airfreight to ship the products in two weeks.

There is great potential for road transport across Eurasia. In 2018, China’s total trade volume with the EU amounted to CNY4.5 trillion, up 7.9% year-on-year. Major markets along the Silk Road Economic Belt and all EU countries are TIR members. With the implementation and optimization of TIR in China, road transport as a cross border tool will play a greater role in trade flows. Truck transport offers an alternative option besides air, sea and rail. Road transport can ensure a ‘door-to-door’ service, which is suitable for high-priced goods and clients with strict time requirements.

Road transport can save up to 10 days compared to rail, and it costs much less than air transport. Hu Rongyi, General Manager of Suzhou Daoxin, was one of the earliest people to spot the opportunities in road transportation between Europe and China. After paying some visits by staff members along the truck route, Suzhou Daoxin delivered its first batch of goods, a truck of steel rolls from Germany’s Stuttgart to Suzhou in Jiangsu province in March 2018. However, the pilot transport was unsatisfying as it took 21 days. “We made a few more trials, and finally managed to get the goods delivered in 12 and 13 days late last August,” said Hu. Currently, Suzhou Daoxin operates truck transport services between Europe and Chinese cities every week, the China Daily reports.

Geely Automobile Holdings, whose founder Li Shufu is the largest single shareholder of Daimler, said sales of its portfolio of brands including Lynk and Volvo, are likely to remain flat this year in China, as economic growth slows down in the world’s largest vehicle market. The Zhejiang-based carmaker sold 44% fewer vehicles in December, causing Geely to miss its 2018 sales target by 5%. Car sales in China sputtered last year after the nation surpassed the United States in 2009 as the largest vehicle market on earth. Sales last year fell 2.8%, as a slowing economy and the trade war with the U.S. gave consumers cause for pause in committing to their biggest non-real estate purchases. Sales slid further by 9.8% in the first two months of the year compared with the same period in 2017.

“The prevailing political and economic uncertainties should continue to affect the passenger vehicle market in China and could cause the current slowdown in motor vehicle demand to continue into 2019,” Geely said in its earnings report, adding that sales would remain flat this year. Still, 2018 sales rose 20% to 1.5 million units, driving up Geely’s revenue by 14.9% to CNY106.6 billion. Net profit jumped 18% to a record CNY12.55 billion. A reduction of VAT as of April 1 is expected to lead to lower car prices, pushing up sales.

Besides owning Volvo, Geely also operates a venture with the Swedish carmaker called Lynk. The Chinese carmaker also owns Malaysia’s once-dominant Proton brand, as well as the assembly for London’s black taxi cabs. Geely’s founder and chief executive Li owns 9.7% of Daimler, the South China Morning Post reports.

China’s residential property companies keep on suffering from slow sales and are hence resorting to fresh discounts to destock. Xu Jiayin, Chairman of Evergrande Group, announced a marketing campaign this month. The group has 690 projects, and will offer a 10% discount on residential properties, and 20% on retail properties. Since 2011 Evergrande has been offering discounts to homebuyers. It sold 52.4 million square meters of gross floor area in 2018, second only to Country Garden’s 77.3 million sq m, according to the China Real Estate Information Corp. Home sales have brought in CNY551.1 billion for Evergrande last year. It ranked third among domestic developers, trailing Country Garden (CNY728.7 billion) and China Vanke (CNY606.9 billion).

“The central government is expected to continue its tight control on the real estate market and strictly supervise real-estate financing, a situation which will cause some challenges to developers through 2019,” said James Shepherd, who heads China-related realty research at Cushman & Wakefield. The Top 100 property developers in China saw a month-on-month sales revenue decline of almost 23% in February, and that for the top three was nearly 11%. Evergrande’s contract value of total sales in January and February was about CNY64.7 billion, down 42.5% from a year ago.

The sales decline is across the board. In the housing market, some 9.6 million sq m of gross floor area were traded in 29 major cities in February, down 53% from January, and down 28% from the same period of 2018, a CRIC report said. Yu Liang, Chairman of Vanke, has called upon the company to keep focus on survival this year. Since February 12, widespread layoffs have been reported in Country Garden with some divisions getting downsized by half. A Savills China research report stated that in the short term, China is not expected to expand financing channels for real estate companies. However, large-sized companies will continue to have more advantages in receiving loans. Meanwhile, the government would continue to allocate resources to promote development in areas such as renovation of shanty towns, affordable housing projects and rental housing, the China Daily reports.