For global growth all countries need structural reforms

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim (second from right), speaks at a news conference in Beijing on Friday. Kim said China's economy is strong and its fundamentals are sound, while lauding the government's reform efforts. Wu Zhiyi / China Daily

Policymakers may breathe freely again after the passing of the roller-coaster month of July when the Greek debt crisis and the Chinese stock market plunge almost spun out of control. But since economic headwinds remain strong, owing to worse-than-expected global growth and world trade this year, how worried should the world be about China's slowdown?

Given the huge contribution China's double-digit economic growth has made to global growth over the past decades, the international community should certainly keep its fingers crossed until the world's second-largest economy bottoms out to add momentum to global recovery. In particular, countries reliant on China's import of raw materials, and machinery and equipment should be worried.

True, China's economic slowdown has made it difficult to stop the slide in commodity prices in recent years and reduced the exports of some countries' manufacturers. But it is gross exaggeration, as some Western media outlets have done, to blame China not only for the economic sufferings of export-dependent developing countries but also for the woes of European countries that excel in producing capital and luxury goods.

On one hand, such critics have ostensibly failed to grasp the dire consequences that too much liquidity in the global financial market can cause. Recently, the International Monetary Fund warned of "significant and abrupt rebalancing of international portfolios" should the US Federal Reserve raise rates that have been kept too low for too long. The simultaneous fluctuations in the US dollar's strength and crises in emerging markets is a warning no policymaker can afford to ignore.

On the other hand, pointing the finger at China undermines the urgency of countries to make efforts to press ahead with structural reforms to boost economic growth both at home and abroad.

In this regard, Chinese policymakers' endeavors to deepen economic reforms may be as important as the country's economic growth to the global efforts needed to boost the world economy, which, the IMF has predicted, will grow by only 3.3 percent this year, the slowest pace since the 2008 global financial crisis.