China’s economic growth, which again this year was only just below ten percent, is keeping the world on its toes
China’s hunger for raw materials and food is driving producer prices to unprecedented heights, offering new hope for many a developing country. Meanwhile, between Frankfurt and Seattle, the prospect of a market of 1.3 billion people who could have the purchasing power of today’s Poles in perhaps a decade’s time has many an executive’s dollar sign flashing in his eyes. In a few years, Chinese consumers will be able to jump-start the chronically sluggish economy of the euro zone?
By 2010, for example, China will need 500 passenger aircraft in addition to the 70 Boeing 737s and 150 Airbus A320s for which contracts were recently signed, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai said Monday. And this will not be the end of the line. But while China’s 800 million villagers will certainly still be living in extremely modest conditions ten years from now, Goldman Sachs expects China to be the world’s largest importer of luxury goods by then.