CHINA’S economy expanded 3% in 2022 despite headwinds, partly thanks to the country’s diversified economic policies and broad vision for handling crises, according to an Egyptian economist.

“China adopts diversified monetary and financial policies, which are crystallized in specific plans with a comprehensive vision,” said Hoda el-Mallah, director of the Cairo-based International Center for Economic Consultations, Feasibility Studies and Training.

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached a record high of 121 trillion yuan (US$17.5 trillion) in 2022, exceeding 100 trillion yuan for the third consecutive year, according to a recent report released by the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.

El-Mallah considered China’s economic growth a hard-won feat given multiple global crises, such as the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

“China has overcome all the crises the world has been going through and contained the consequent economic disorder,” said el-Mallah, also an economic expert with the General Organization for Physical Planning of Egypt’s Housing Ministry.

China’s total trade in goods reached 42.1 trillion yuan in 2022, up 7.7% year on year. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 6.3% year on year in 2022, according to the statistics bureau.

“The foreign investment rate in China is very high, and so is the foreign capital inflow, which are among the factors of the success of China’s economic reform,” el-Mallah said.

In her doctoral thesis, el-Mallah cited China as “an economic model to learn from,” highlighting China’s implementation of economic policies through sustained and in-depth reform and opening up since 1978.

Ubiquitous Chinese products across the globe speak volumes for China’s status as the world’s factory, said el-Mallah.

“The more the Chinese economy grows, the more the prices smoothly stabilize in the global market,” the expert said.

“China tries to share its industrial expertise with developing countries, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa,” el-Mallah said, referring to Chinese engineering companies contracted to build overseas mega-infrastructure projects.

“China has achieved huge economic success recognized by the whole world and has become a model to follow and learn from,” el-Mallah said. (Xinhua)