CRI听力: Top Economists Call for More Public Spending, Less Monetary Confrontations

China's macro-economic watchdog says that public spending in social areas will significantly increase in the next five years, and will form the basis of the country's ongoing economic restructuring.

During a high-profile economic summit in Beijing, some world-leading economists and business leaders have echoed this "social perspective" in the course of the economic rebound. Most of them criticize linking currency appreciation with the imbalances in the global economy as "unhelpful and irrational."

Zhang Cheng has the details.

Zhang Ping, Director of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, says solid social safety nets are the basis for expanding consumption.

"Public investment will continue to favor the agricultural sector, affordable housing projects, healthcare and education."

Zhang Ping made the comments at the China Development Forum 2010, organized by the State Council in Beijing.

Angel Gorria, general secretary of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, says the average level of consumption in China is relatively low and increasing public spending will help re-balance the economy.

"The best way to do this, in our view, is to step up public spending in social infrastructure, to unify and strengthen China's social safety nets."

China is now endeavoring to advance its education reform to target equality and reform healthcare to make it more affordable and effective.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University and a Nobel Laureate of economics, comments on this approach.

"The new model to transform China's growth would be based on education, promoting innovation, and increasing living standards and helping creating a more harmonious society. And this should be the center of the twelfth Five-Year Plan."

Stiglitz says in the long run, China should not follow the Western pattern because that is not sustainable in the new global context.

"There are alternatives for China's current economic model. Breeding these changes will provide China with a competitive edge and the foundation of long-term robust growth."

Most attending economists and business leaders reached a consensus at Sunday's summit that currency appreciation is of limited help in resolving world economic imbalances.

Some key speakers say at the close of the meeting on Monday that focusing on economic restructuring is better than dwelling on currency issues.

Zhang Cheng, CRI news.