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Economic rebalance biggest challenge for China: ADB president

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-22 13:48

BEIJING: China's biggest economic challenge is the need to rebalance the economy in order to achieve sustainable long-term growth, says Haruhiko Kuroda, president of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

"Rebalancing the economy is not only a key challenge for the whole world, but also the biggest challenge for China," said Kuroda in an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.

Kuroda, who is in Beijing to participate in the China Development Forum 2010, said China should speed up its economic restructuring and increase personal consumption to rebalance its economy.

"Sustaining long-term growth in China will require substantial economic restructuring," Kuroda said.

He said over-reliance on investment, exports, and industrial development in China had created imbalances and structural constraints.

Kuroda said to increase consumption, China should further develop services, which would play a major role in improving production efficiency, and promoting technical progress and innovation.

"While manufacturing will remain a key sector in China in the coming years, the service industry has the potential to become an important source of growth," he said.

China should pay more attention to the development of tourism, transportation, financial services, energy and clean technologies.

To bridge the income gap and regional disparities, China should invest more in rural areas by improving infrastructure, education and health care facilities.

He said he believed that as the biggest contributor to the global economic recovery, China would continue to contribute to the global growth in coming years with its growth model refocused to a sustainable mode.