In a keenly anticipated statement, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has disclosed that the United States is maintaining a vigilant watch over China’s economic complexities. Apprehensions have arisen as China grapples with an economic deceleration, coupled with ominous signs of recession in Europe and soaring inflation that has begun to impinge on the global appetite for Chinese goods.
“China confronts an array of both immediate and protracted global hurdles, economic in nature, which we have been meticulously observing,” Yellen conveyed to journalists in New Delhi, on the eve of a two-day G20 summit.
She further commented, “Yet, it’s worth noting that China possesses ample policy flexibility to grapple with these challenges.”
The absence of China’s President Xi Jinping from the leaders’ assembly transpires amidst elevated trade and geopolitical tensions with the United States and India, with whom it shares a lengthy and disputed border.
Among the quandaries afflicting China, Yellen enumerated “a less-than-expected surge in consumer spending subsequent to the Covid restrictions, alongside chronic issues linked to the real estate sector and the associated debt burdens.”
G20’s host nation, India, eclipsed its northern neighbor in becoming the world’s most populous country earlier this year. Yellen also remarked on China’s diminishing labor force, underscoring that “China’s labor pool is commencing to shrink.”
Xi’s nonattendance is poised to impact Washington’s endeavor to uphold the G20 as the paramount forum for global economic cooperation, including its pursuit of enhanced financing for developing nations. This initiative encompasses plans to augment the lending capabilities of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for emerging economies by approximately $200 billion, offering an alternative to China’s “coercive” Belt and Road Initiative.
While cognizant of the perils facing global growth, Yellen expressed her astonishment at the resilience of the global economy and the vigor it has demonstrated. She stated, “Despite the hazards and the selective impact on certain nations, the global economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience.”
Yellen accentuated that the “most prominent detrimental influence remains Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.”
ANI