China Central Bank governor talks on savings, economic outlook

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Global savings and consumption have been leading topics at the summit. Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan has been discussing the country's high savings rate... and the need to expand household spending. He also laid out six different scenarios for how the world economy might develop in the coming years.

At the meeting, there were suggestions that both China and the US should make adjustments to their saving practices. It's been said that China's deposit rate is too high, while that of the US is too low. Zhou Xiaochuan said China was willing to make efforts towards addressing this, but he added that it is incorrect to over-estimate the impact of the two countries. He said to lower the savings rate, the best way is to expand household consumption. But he noted that this would be easier said than done since the current income distribution structure would take a long time to change.

China Central Bank governor talks on savings, economic  outlook

Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People's Bank Of China, said, "Since the distribution structure cannot be changed in the short term, a second option is to maintain and expand investments. Too many investments in the industrial sector will cause saturation. Urbanization is another investment channel with great potential for China. This helps lay the foundation for population transfer, consumption growth, and the development of the service industry in the future."