The Chinese economy may continue to struggle this year, giving goosebumps to the world economy but it should not be as bad as was being feared, according to global leaders here for the elite WEF powwow on the state of the world. Some of the most soothing comments for China came from noted economist Nouriel Roubini, who is famously known as Dr Doom, when he said that market analysts tend to go from one extreme to the next in their predictions.
“That’s why we might not want to read too much into all their recent talk of an economic meltdown in the world’s second largest economy,” he said. At the same time, Roubini warned that all would not be entirely well for China. “My view for the last few years on China is that we will have neither a hard nor a soft landing. I would say China is going to have a bumpy landing,” he noted.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said that China is continuing with its economic reforms and, therefore, growth might slow down slightly but will probably still hover around 6.5 per cent a perfectly reasonable rate.
Other forecasts made here for 2016 included renewable energy getting cheaper. Head of Saudi Aramco Khalid al-Falih said, the collapse in oil prices is “irrational” and there is only one way, that is up, that oil prices can go in 2016.