IMF official says China quake won't have major economic impact

IMF official says China quake won't have major economic impact

Thu May 22, 12:25 AM ET

TOKYO (AFP) - Southwest China's massive earthquake is unlikely to have a big impact on the country's strong economic growth, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund said.
ADVERTISEMENT

"We don't think it (the quake) is going to have a major impact," Daniel Citrin, deputy director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, said in remarks released on Thursday.

He noted that after the massive earthquake that devastated the western Japanese city of Kobe in 1995, subsequent reconstruction efforts had actually boosted the economy.

"So we don't think it is going to have a huge effect in terms of slowing growth in China," Citrin said.

Chinese state media reported on Monday that the quake is expected to trim the nation's economic growth in 2008 by at least 0.2 percentage points.

But the impact is likely to be short-lived and the quake could eventually boost investment, a major driver of China's economic growth, through reconstruction efforts, it said.

China's economy has enjoyed double-digit growth for five consecutive years.