Beijing, China - Jan 13, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Recording screen of World Bank's Global Growth Forecasts
2. Wang Huiyao, president, Center for China and Globalization, working on computer
3. Screen showing Wang speaking
4. Recording screen of Ayhan Kose, acting vice president of Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) of World Bank, speaking
5. Recording screen of Martin Raiser, World Bank's country director for China, speaking
6. Seminar in progress
7. Screen showing four questions
8. Various of seminar in progress
9. Screen showing spread of COVID-19
10. Screen showing Kose speaking
11. Screen showing guests
12. Screen showing Wang listening
13. Screen showing Raiser speaking
14. Seminar in progress

FILE: Qingdao City, Shandong Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
15. Aerial shots of industrial parks, national flags fluttering

FILE: Shanghai, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
16. Various of workers, equipment in factory

FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
17. Various of COVID-19 vaccine production line

FILE: Shanghai, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
18. Aerial shots of buildings

Despite global economic downward pressure, China's economic growth is driving the recovery of emerging market economies worldwide, said officials of the World Bank on Wednesday.

At the online seminar held by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading Chinese non-governmental think tank based in Beijing, officials of the World Bank gave thumb-up to China's economic recovery.

Before the outbreak of COVID-19, the World Bank had already lowered its forecast of global economic growth in the decade from 2020.

In its latest Global Economic Prospects released early this month, the World Bank predicted a 4 percent growth of the global economy in 2021, 0.2 percentage points lower than the semiannual forecast in June last year.

The bank believes that the uncertainties caused by the pandemic are reducing the global trade and investment.

Ayhan Kose, acting vice president of the Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions (EFI) of the World Bank, said at the seminar that after the pandemic outbreak, the improper economic stimulation in some countries led to a leap-forward increase in debt, and the debt ratio of some low-income countries even reached 300 to 400 percent, which has never happened since 1997.

At the same time, due to the lockdown measures in some countries, the investment income ratio has dropped significantly, and the global investment has dropped sharply. Meanwhile, people's consumption patterns are changing in the post pandemic era, which has a great impact on the economy of countries that rely heavily on tourism, said Kose.

Kose and his colleagues pointed out that perhaps China is the only major economy to escape the economic downturn in 2020. They forecast that China's GDP growth is expected to reach 7.9 percent in 2021. Meanwhile, driven by China, the economies of emerging market economies will grow by 5 percent in the new year, which is higher than the previous forecast of 4.6 percent.

The rest of the world is experiencing an L-shaped recovery, but in the case of China, it's really being very close to a V, said Martin Raiser, World Bank's country director for China, South Korea and Mongolia.

He believes that in contrast to global investment decline, China's investment and trade volume remained stable. China has been trying to make consumption as the main engine to drive growth, while continuing to invest in infrastructure. In addition, China continues to promote digitalization in the fields of finance and consumption. This recovery model provides reference for the sustainable economic development of various countries after the pandemic.

He said that compared with other countries, China's manufacturing industry is mature, especially in the field of medical equipment. China cannot only meet its own domestic demands, but also export medical materials to other countries, which allows China to have steady recovery while making contributions to the world at the same time.