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Tag: China’s

  • What Nigeria can learn from the China’s poverty eradication model

    What Nigeria can learn from the China’s poverty eradication model

    In a world grappling with persistent poverty, China has emerged as a global model for successful poverty eradication—lifting nearly 800 million people out of extreme poverty since 1978. This staggering achievement, which accounts for approximately 75 percent of global poverty reduction, has drawn attention from policymakers and development experts worldwide, including Nigeria.

    A joint report by China’s State Council and the World Bank titled Four Decades of Poverty Reduction in China describes the feat as “historically unprecedented.” Rural disposable income in previously impoverished counties rose from 6,079 yuan in 2013 to 16,396 yuan ($2,316) in 2023, underscoring the long-term impact of targeted poverty alleviation efforts.

    Central to China’s strategy was the vision of a “Moderately Prosperous Society,” a concept that guided national policy for decades. President Xi Jinping redefined prosperity not merely by GDP growth but by the complete elimination of extreme poverty. “We cannot announce the complete construction of a ‘moderately prosperous society’ if the living standards of tens of millions remain below the poverty line,” Xi declared.

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    This philosophy set the tone for a nationwide mobilization that left no village or remote community behind. China’s approach combined agricultural reform, industrialization, urbanization, and massive infrastructure development with targeted social programs. Key strategies included relocating people from remote areas, integrating environmental protection with income generation, and expanding access to education and healthcare.

    The success of China’s Party-led governance system in implementing these policies offers valuable lessons for Nigeria, especially under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

    Vice President Kashim Shettima recently articulated the administration’s transformative vision, describing it as a “covenant between us and the people.” He emphasized Nigeria’s readiness to embrace global opportunities and reposition itself as a prime investment destination.

    Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, added that the Renewed Hope Agenda goes beyond macroeconomic reforms. “It is about creating concrete opportunities for prosperity across sectors—for individuals, for families, and for communities,” he said.

    The administration’s roadmap includes bold reforms such as the removal of fuel subsidies, which Idris described as a “painful but necessary” decision. The savings from this policy shift are now funding major infrastructure projects like the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Superhighway, Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Railway, and the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway.

    In addition, over 900,000 small businesses have benefited from the Presidential Conditional Grant and Loan Scheme, while thousands of students are accessing higher education through the Students’ Loan Scheme.

    Experts argue that Nigeria’s push for local government financial autonomy could be a game-changer in bridging the urban-rural divide. With increased allocations and freedom to implement grassroots projects, local governments are poised to drive employment and economic activity at the community level.

    The creation of Regional Development Commissions across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones and the recent establishment of the Ministry of Livestock Development further signal the administration’s commitment to inclusive growth. These initiatives mirror China’s rural revitalization efforts and could help Nigeria close the gap between urban and rural communities.

    As Nigeria navigates its path toward economic renewal, China’s experience offers a compelling reminder: with visionary leadership, targeted policies, and inclusive governance, poverty can be not just reduced—but eradicated.

  • China spends $279bn on research, development in 2017 – Minister

    China spends $279bn on research, development in 2017 – Minister

    China’s total spending on research and development is estimated to have hit 1.76 trillion yuan (279 billion dollars) in 2017, a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent, China’s Minister of Science said on Tuesday.

    “China needs to enter the ranks of innovative countries and become a big technological innovation power by 2050.

    “Basic research and frontier exploration is the big lesson that must be done now,” Minister Wan Gang told a news conference.

    China has been trying to ease its dependence on low-end heavy industries and to develop less-polluting ways to promote economic growth and move up the global value chain.

    The 2017 spending amounts to around 2.1 per cent of total Gross Domestic Product.

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    This compares with around 2.8 per cent in the United States, 2.9 per cent in Germany and 3.3 per cent in Japan, World Bank data for 2015 shows.

    China’s annual research and spending has risen 70.9 per cent from 2012, Gang noted.

    China has established dozens of new high-tech industrial parks and incubators aimed at promoting technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and big data.

    The country is also investing heavily to dominate industries such as nuclear and renewable energy, high-speed trains and electric vehicles.

    Gang told reporters that China was aiming to bring output of electric vehicles up to 2 million units by 2020, double the estimated volume for 2018.

    The Chinese currency exchanges at 1 dollar to 6.3115 Yuan
    NAN

     

  • China’s new home prices fall

    The average price of new homes in China’s major cities fell more than six per cent in April from a year ago.

    The price of new homes in China fell for the eighth consecutive month in April, showing the property sector continues to be a major drag on the world’s second-largest economy.

    The average price in China’s 70 major cities fell 6.1% from a year ago – the same rate of decline as in March.

    A large inventory of unsold homes is weighing on the once red-hot market.

    The property sector accounts for about 20 per cent of China’s economy, according to economists.

    It has been flagged as one of the biggest risks to the Asian giant’s economic growth, which is on track for its slowest growth in a quarter of a century this year.

    However, home prices in Beijing did rise for a second consecutive month in April, while Shanghai’s prices rose for the first time in a year.

    But overall, prices in most of the smaller cities, which account for about 60 per cent of national sales, continued to head lower.

    Analysts said the recent data will continue to add pressure on policymakers to ease and introduce stimulus measures to boost the economy.

    Authorities had eased tax rules and down-payment requirements in March and earlier this month, the central bank cut interest rates for the third time since November to pick up lending.

    Despite that, real estate investment growth eased to its lowest rate since 2009 in the first quarter of this year.

    Growth fell to 8.5 per cent in January to March, according to the Nationals Bureau of Statistics, falling from 10.4 per cent in the first two months of the year.

  • China’s smartphone market slows

    The number of smartphones shipped in China fell for the first time in six years Smartphone shipments to the world’s biggest market, China, have contracted for the first time in six years, according to market research firm IDC.

    The number of smartphones shipped fell by four per cent from a year ago to 98.8 million units in the January to March period.

    Between the last quarter of last year and the first quarter, s  hipments were down eight per cent, said IDC.

    A build up of unsold stock is leading to a slowdown in the maturing Chinese mobile market, the firm said.

    “China is often thought of as an emerging market but the reality is that the vast majority of phones sold in China today are smartphones, similar to other mature markets like the US, UK, Australia, and Japan,” said Kitty Fok, managing director at IDC China.

    “Just like these markets, convincing existing users as well as feature phone users to upgrade to new smartphones will now be the key to further growth in the China market.”

    China surpassed the US to become the world’s largest smartphone market in 2011.

    IDC expects flat growth in Chinese market this year, adding that as the country’s growth slows, Chinese manufacturers will focus on expanding in global markets such as India and South East Asia.

    US tech giant Apple overtook China’s Xiaomi in the first quarter to be the top smartphone provider in the country thanks to consumers’ preferences for the larger screens of the latest iPhone models, according to IDC.

    Apple now accounts for 14.7 per cent of the market, compared with 13.7 per cent smartphone maker, meanwhile, has said it is focusing on expanding abroad.

    In April, India’s Ratan Tata, the chairman emeritus of the Tata conglomerate, bought a stake in Xiaomi – a move seen as part of the smartphone maker’s bid to increase its presence in the world’s third largest market.

  • China’s export numbers miss expectations

    China’s monthly trade data shows exports fell in March from a year ago by 14.6per cent in yuan terms, compared to expectations for a rise of more than eight per cent.

    Imports meanwhile fell 12.3per cent in yuan terms compared to forecasts for a fall of more than 11per cent.

    The numbers mean the country’s monthly trade surplus has shrunk to its smallest in 13 months.

    China’s economy grew by 7.4per cent in 2014, its weakest for almost 25 years.

    Analysts said recent indicators showed further signs the slowdown is continuing.

    In US dollar terms, China’s exports for the month fell 15 per cent, while imports fell 12.7 per cent.

    Currency conversion factors based on US dollar and Chinese yuan movements over the last year mean some official numbers from the mainland are now reported in both currencies.

    The official March data leaves the country with a monthly trade surplus of 18.16billion Chinese yuan ($2.92billion; £1.99billion).

    In February, China’s monthly trade surplus hit a record $60.6billion, as exports grew and imports slid back.

    In US dollar terms, China’s exports for the month fell 15 per cent while imports fell 12.7 per cent

    Analysts said the export numbers for March were a surprise.

    “We can understand the imports fell because of falling imports of commodities, but exports fell so much, it was very much unexpected,” said Shanghai-based analyst Nie Wen from Hwabao Trust.

    However, he said one major reason for the falling exports was yuan appreciation.

    Tony Nash, global vice president of Delta Economics, said the numbers took in the lunar new year period which was typically a bit volatile.

    “We usually average February and March to get a true picture of what’s actually happening,” he told the BBC.

    “If we look at February’s 48percent rise in exports and March’s 15percent fall in exports, we get a moving average of 16.7 per cent, which is closer to where we’ve seen exports over the past two months.”

    But Mr Nash said Delta Economics was expecting a further slowdown going forward.

    “In the second quarter, we’ll look for an average of 9.9 per cent year-on-year export growth and 11.7 per cent import growth,” he said.

    “Trade will fall towards the back half of the year and we will look for average export growth in 2015 at 8.7 per cent year-on-year, and import growth at 10.3 per cent year-on-year.

  • China’s economic reforms bring benefits

    China’s ongoing economic reforms and initiatives on regional development will benefit both itself and the rest of the world, top European economists have said.

    Speaking at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the Chinese economy, the world’s second largest, is not heading for a hard landing.

    During the economic transformation and upgrading, “the only risk for China was stagnation, but this has been overcome,” Daniel Gros, director of the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies, told Xinhua in an interview.

    China’s economic reforms benefit the world in two ways, according to Gros, a former economic adviser to the European Commission and then the European Parliament.

    “First, everybody benefits if China grows more strongly, especially if growth is re-balanced from investment and exports towards consumption,” he told Xinhua.

    “Second, making the market the main determinant of economic decisions also facilitates trade,” Gros continued.

    Fredrik Erixon, director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), a world-economy think tank based in Brussels, said economic reforms that open up for more competition and innovation are key to China’s development.

     

     

    “The country could add a new dimension to its global economic leadership by fastening economic reforms that can reverse the country’s growth trend,” the Swedish economist said.

    In recent years, China has been eyeing economic upgrading through coordinating its financial and monetary policies and through long-term investment in such areas as infrastructure.

    China has also proposed or promoted a host of initiatives, including the Silk Road Economic Zone, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the BRICS Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, as part of efforts to fund global public investment and pursue win-win results.

    On these initiatives, Gros said a distinction should be made between internal investment drive and the financing of investment abroad.

    “Internal infrastructure investment has been useful to maintain demand and employment in the short run, but it does little to address the domestic demand deficiency which one can see in the continuing very high national (not merely household) savings rates,” he explained.

     

    Chinese efforts to finance global public investment are laudable, but the size of this investment would be much smaller than domestic investment because other countries have an absorption problem for foreign capital, Gros said.

    Noting that these initiatives will help push growth, Erixon said that “new investments that are combined with economic reforms have a much better multiplying effect.”

    Regarding China’s trade policies, the ECIPE chief said China’s efforts to spur regional trade integration are important.

    China’s trade negotiations with the United States or the European Union should not be that far off, provided that domestic economic reforms are sped up, he added.

    Chinese capital going overseas

    Asked to comment on the going-out of Chinese capital, Erixon said the global market has seen an increasing competitve presence of Chinese companies.

    Some sectors are sensitive in some countries, especially the infrastructure sector and those previously privatized sectors, but countries with a protectionist sentiment towards Chinese are declining in number, he said.

    China can contribute to better conditions for cross-border investment by allowing more competition between outward oriented Chinese investors and by reforming corporate governance that will make it easier for others to understand how companies in China work, according to Erixon.

    Innovation

    Both economists also offered their insights on how China can step up its innovation-led growth, as Chinese governments are pushing for more innovation-supporting measures, including encouraging people to start undertakings and promoting the development of the internet economy.

    Erixon said apart from increasing the scope for competition in the economy, China could accelerate its own innovation-led growth by education.

    “The experience of many other countries is that it is smarter to invest in readiness to adopt innovations than invest in the capacity to create them,” he added.

    Innovation is best left to the private sector, Gros said, noting that in reality, the government is rarely the source of innovation.

  • China’s inflation rate rises to 1.5% in December

    China’s inflation rate rises to 1.5% in December

    China’s inflation rate remained near a five-year low in December, edging up to 1.5% from 1.4% the month before. Sharp rises in the price of some food items were behind the increase, including a 14% rise in egg prices.

    Consumer price inflation (CPI) for the whole of 2014 was 2% compared with 2013, well below the government’s target of 3.5%.

    Analysts suggested the data pointed to persistent weakness in the world’s second largest economy.

    The producer price index (PPI), which includes wholesale and factory price inflation, fell by a greater than expected 3.3% in December from a year earlier marking the 34th consecutive monthly fall since September 2012. Analysts had expected PPI to fall by 3.1% in December.

    China’s National Statistics Bureau said the fall was largely due to falling oil prices.  Together, the inflation numbers point to weak domestic demand across China, which some analysts say may give the government room to cut interest rates and take other measures to boost growth which has slowed to a five-year low of 7.3% in the three months to the end of September.

    On Thursday, China said the recent approval of infrastructure projects would not “play the role of using fiscal expenditure as strong economic stimulus in 20153  and that the projects were different to stimulus measures introduced in 2008.

    Liu Ligang, an economist with ANZ in Hong Kong, said China’s inflation had been “very tepid”.

    “Going forward, we do see the risk of deflation is rising, especially [as] PPI inflation has been in negative territory for over 34 months,” he said.

    “That means there’s no pass-through effected from PPI inflation into CPI inflation.

    “In fact, CPI will continue to be dragged down by PPI inflation in the next few quarters [and] all this suggests the People’s Bank of China will need to act more aggressively.”