China economists look for positives to U.S. downturn

China economists look for positives to U.S. downturn Chinese economists are trying to see the bright side of the U.S. economic downturn, saying it could bring about a narrowing of the trade imbalance between the two countries.
   “A reduction is good to ease international pressure, adjust the economic structure and enlarge domestic demand,” Zheng Jingping, a researcher with the National Statistics Bureau, told Xinhua recently.
   Another expert told the Chinese newspaper that a slowdown in exports to the United States could fix an inherent problem with China’s economy.
   “The Chinese economy, despite its continuous growth, has a structural problem,” said Fan Gang, director of the National Economic Research Institute of the China Reform Foundation. “If a drop of external demand could lead to adjustment, the change would be positive. Maybe this change would be a little uncomfortable for some, but overheating of the economy could be very uncomfortable.”
   The Xinhua report, citing economists' calculations, said a drop of one percentage point in American gross domestic product would lead to a five percentage-point decline in the growth rate of Chinese exports.
   The U.S. downturn prompted the World Bank to cut its forecast for China’s 2008 economic growth to 9.6 percent from the 11.4 percent it grew in 2007.