A view of Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district Photo: VCG

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) said that 98.2 percent of the 390 foreign enterprises and business councils in China that were recently surveyed have expressed confidence in China's economic development in 2023.

Foreign enterprises' priorities for investment in China are new industrialization, green and low-carbon industries, healthcare, digitalization, rural revitalization, major cultural industry projects and financial services, Yang Fan, CCPIT spokesperson, said on Wednesday during a regular press conference.

In a bid to attract more foreign investment in 2023, the CCPIT said it will strengthen regular contacts with multinational corporations and foreign business associations, strengthen tracking services for key foreign-funded enterprises and projects and promote the implementation of foreign-funded projects.

"As China's economy continues to recover and epidemic prevention and control has entered a new stage, cross-border exchanges are gradually normalizing. In 2023, we will host and participate in hundreds of trade and economic activities, such as exhibitions, forums and mutual visits of delegation groups," said Yang.

The CCPIT will organize high-level economic and trade delegations to visit the US, EU, Australia, Russia, South Korea, India, Saudi Arabia, Brazil and other countries and regions, said the spokesperson.

The agency has received 519 applications for overseas exhibitions submitted by 50 domestic exhibition organizers, in 47 countries, said Yang.

Analysts said that these activities will boost China's exports, which, according to the Central Economic Work Conference held in December 2022, should continue to support China's economy this year.

In 2022, China remained the largest country in merchandise trade for the sixth consecutive year. Its foreign trade stood at 42.07 trillion yuan ($6.1 trillion), up 7.7 percent from 2021. Exports rose 10.5 percent to 

23.97 trillion yuan, according to statistics from Chinese customs.

"In recent years, the competitive advantages of some Chinese products have emerged, such as new-energy vehicles (NEVs). Exports of NEVs can continue to expand in 2023," said Zhu Baoliang, chief economist at the State Information Center, a government think tank.

New forms of trade are conducive to exports, Zhu said. For example, cross-border e-commerce and trade warehouses have played crucial roles in the past two years.

Confidence in China's economic recovery surged after the country optimized its COVID-19 management.

The growth benefits from China's reopening could be greatest for economies that are more closely integrated with Chinese consumer markets via merchandise trade and tourism, read an analysis by Fitch Ratings published on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings raised China's 2023 GDP growth forecast to 5 percent from the previous December projection of 4.1 percent. The IMF in January also raised China's GDP projection to 5.2 percent from last October's 2.6 percent. 

The UN has predicted that China's growth will be 4.8 percent in 2023, compared with global growth of 1.9 percent.

China's stronger-than-anticipated recovery will benefit global growth All else being equal, every 1 percentage point increase in its forecast for China's GDP growth would automatically add about 0.2 percentage points to the 1.4 percent global 2023 GDP growth forecast made in December, said Fitch Ratings.

Global Times