Currently, the world economy is facing many challenges. High inflation, rising interest rates, shrinking demand, and weakening expectations, combined with the continued impact of the pandemic, have cast a shadow over global economic growth.

With the complex and severe situation, China's economy has withstood the pressure, showing a steady recovery trend. The vitality of the market has been continuously released, bringing bright prospects for the development of the global economy. Herein, I would like to share some views on China's current and future economic situation:

First, China's macroeconomic performance maintains stability in general. The Chinese government insists on implementing a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy, and maintains the pertinence, stability and sustainability in terms of macro policies, creating a favorable environment for the stable and healthy development of the economy. In 2022, China's GDP exceeded 121 trillion yuan, an increase of 3% over the previous year, of which the first quarter saw a 4.8% growth and the second quarter maintained a positive growth rate of 0.4%, the third quarter saw a significant recovery of 3.9%, and the fourth quarter maintained the recovery trend of 2.9% despite fluctuations in economic operation.

With the backdrop of a complex and challenging international environment and repeated impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, such growth is definitely a hard-won achievement. During the past year, overall price level remained stable, and the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2% over the previous year, lower than the target of around 3%. Grain security was effectively ensured, with total output reaching 686 million metric tons, indicating Chinese grain production capacity has exceeded 650 million metric tons for 8 consecutive years. The value added of China's manufacturing industry reached 33.5 trillion yuan, ranking first in the world. Social consumption scale stabilized at around 44 trillion yuan.

Per capita disposable income grew by 2.9% in real terms, basically in step with economic growth. The employment situation is deemed stable on the whole, with annual increase in employment exceeds the expected target for the year. Also, people's wellbeing is effectively guaranteed and the coverage will be further expanded within the existing policy framework to cover more disadvantaged groups.

Second, China's economic and social vitality has been further unleashed. New development drivers are gaining momentum so as to promote high-quality economic growth. In 2022, the value added of high-tech manufacturing industries above designated size grew by 7.4 percent, 3.8 percentage points faster than that of all industries above designated size. Investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech services grew by 22.2% and 12.1% respectively. Investment in the social sector increased by 10.9% year on year. In recent years, China has witnessed sustained and rapid development of its Internet economy, new infrastructure construction has been accelerated, the capabilities of information and communication service has seen significant improvement, thus boosting development in high-tech industries such as the Internet, big data and artificial intelligence, and speeding up the digital transformation of traditional business forms. In particular, China has made breakthroughs in production and application of high-tech products. In 2022, China's online retail sales reached 13.79 trillion yuan, accounting for 31% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. The volume of express delivery was 110.58 billion, up 2.1% year on year. The production and sales of new energy vehicles during the year soared 96.9% and 93.4%, to 7.058 million and 6.887 million respectively. The output of charging piles and photovoltaic cells increased substantially by 80.3% and 47.8% respectively. The output of mobile communication base station equipment, industrial control computers and systems also saw favorable rise of 16.3% and 15.0% correspondingly. According to relevant statistics, digital economy accounts for nearly 40% of China's total economic output.

Third, China's opening-up economy has become an engine for world economic recovery. China's stride to high-level open up has not and will never stopped. In 2022, China's foreign trade grew better than expected, with total imports and exports of goods reaching 42.07 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.7%, surpassing 40 trillion yuan for the first time, and remaining the world's largest merchandise trading country for six consecutive years. The total value of imports and exports of services in 2022 reached 5980.19 billion yuan, with a 12.9% increase compared to last year, maintaining rapid growth, in which the value of imports of services reached 3127.95 billion yuan, up 13.5% year on year, ranking second in the world for nine years in a row.

The fifth China International Import Expo(CIIE) was successfully held during the year and its function of opening up became more prominent, turning China's big market into great opportunity for the world, 145 countries, regions and international organizations participated in the Expo, as well as 284 Fortune 500 companies and industry leaders. The Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment is expanding, and the threshold for foreign investment continues to be lowered. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been formally implemented, enlarging China's global network of high-standard free trade zones.

The number of China-Europe freight trains has reached new highs, and the circle of friends for the Belt and Road Initiative is growing ever larger…During the recent Chinese Spring Festival holiday, the world saw vibrancy and jubilation in this country.

The number of Chinese tourists traveling out of China grew significantly, with more than 2.87 million people arriving and departing, an upward trend of 120.5% compared to last year's Spring Festival.

Chinese tourists' outbound orders increased by 640% year-on-year, and cross-border air ticket orders rose more than four times. Many countries enthusiastically welcome Chinese tourists, believing that this will promote tourism revival and economy recovery. Recently, World Trade Organization Director-General Okonjo-Iweala is correct?thank you for your correction. said at the 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that China is the world's economic growth engine.

The United Nations recently released a report saying that the world economic growth is projected to slow down to 1.9% in 2023 due to the convergence of multiple crises, while in this context, China's economic growth will rise sharply to 4.8%, and many international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have also raised their expectations of China's economic growth and consider that China is expected to become the "locomotive" that drives world economic growth in 2023.

In 2022, bilateral trade between China and Iran maintained positive growth, and China continues to become Iran's first trading partner, the largest export destination and the second largest source of imports. China's economy keeps unleashing its dynamism and steady improvement, which will provide greater development opportunities for all countries in the world, including Iran.

In 2023, China will hold a series of trade and investment fairs such as the 6th China International Import Expo (CIIE), Canton Fair, the 3rd China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) and the 2023 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), which will provide a window for all sectors in Iran to learn more about China as well as opportunities to develop economic and trade cooperation with China.

China will implement a more proactive opening-up strategy, promote the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and welcome all countries to share the benefits of China's development. We wish to propel the high-quality construction of Belt and Road Initiative by continuously improving mutual openness and cooperation in various fields such as trade, investment and industry, so as to build a model for international cooperation and inject strong momentum into the world economic recovery.
    
*Fu Lihua is Chargé d'affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Tehran