China says it's up to U.S. to drive global economy
BEIJING - China's finance minister said Wednesday that the country is not planning any new stimulus measures and it is up to the United States to drive the global economy.
Lou Jiwei said that leaders are satisfied with the country's economic performance so far this year and that in the first five months China had created up to 6 million jobs, 60 percent of this year's target.
Analysts say the ruling party appears willing to accept economic growth below its 7.5 percent target this year so long as the rate of creation of new jobs stays high enough to avoid political tensions.
Lou said China is emphasizing structural reforms to spur economic growth and is unlikely to repeat the kind of massive economic stimulus it did in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis.
"Therefore the global economic recovery depends on the situation in the United States," he told reporters at a briefing on the sidelines of an annual U.S.-China strategic and economic dialogue in Beijing attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew.
Lou pointed out that the U.S. economy shrank at a 2.9 percent annual rate from January to March - largely because of a brutal winter - and said China hopes the U.S. "can take measures to ensure the momentum of growth."
He also said China hopes the U.S. can rebalance its economy by encouraging Americans to save more.