Year-ender: How multinational execs view China's economy in 2020

1. How do you view China's economic performance in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic?

China has successfully weathered the pandemic, with its economy performing much stronger than expected compared to the rest of the world. According to the latest official figures, China's GDP grew by 3.2 percent and 4.9 percent year-on-year in the second and third quarters of 2020, respectively, as the country continues its recovery. While 4.9 percent growth appears to be slightly below certain forecasts, industrial output - a good barometer of state-controlled activities - came in above expectations, with an increase of 5.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.

2. How do you evaluate the Chinese government's efforts in epidemic prevention and control?

The Chinese government has been very effective in terms of epidemic prevention and control. While many other parts of the world continue to see rising COVID-19 cases, new infections in China have remained in the single digits or low double digits for a sustained period of time.

3. What are your comments on China's improvement of its business environment this year?

In spite of global demand disruption, the business environment in China has improved as the country continues to promote its domestic consumption to help boost internal demand, including continuous efforts at modernization by investing in new tech infrastructure (5G, IoT, AI, etc), the interconnection of urban cities, and the rehabilitation of old cities. In the meantime, monetary policies remain flexible with low interest rates while China is determined to help businesses withstand the short term impact of COVID-19 by rolling out measures such as tax reduction for small and medium-sized enterprises.

4. What are your expectations for China's further reform and opening-up?

China continues to open up different market sectors, while focusing on investing in technology such as semiconductors, to help improve supply chain efficiency and reliability. At the same time, China is leveraging its huge domestic market to attract more foreign companies to invest and operate in China.

5. How do you view your company and the industry's performance in China this year?

2020 has been a strong year for A&M across the globe and in China. As a leading global consulting firm with a focus on business value creation, performance improvement and turnaround advisory, we focus on delivering hands-on DNA and leadership in helping businesses to drive transformation. This focus has proved incremental, as many businesses impacted by COVID and the market disruption seek to either improve their performance or transform their operations in order to stay competitive in the market. During this time of uncertainty in particular, we partner with businesses to go through the weeds of challenges and help them come out stronger.

6. Do you plan to deepen your company's footprint in China next year? If so, how?

Looking ahead into 2021, A&M is committed to investing further in the growth in China. While China is on a recovery trajectory, the global economy continues to fluctuate. We see an increased level of M&A activities and businesses continuing to seek transformation or performance optimization going forward. A&M will continue to invest in growing our China team's capability at all levels to support clients in China and beyond.