PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng Calls for G20 Policy Coordination on Debt and Global Imbalances

China's central bank governor Pan Gongsheng attended and spoke at the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Asheville, the United States, on August 31-September 1. According to Jiemian News, participants discussed the global economic outlook, growth, global imbalances and sovereign debt in developing countries, and said the world economy remains resilient despite multiple risks. Pan said trade frictions and protectionism are weighing on global growth by disrupting supply chains, lifting inflation and unsettling market expectations. He urged stronger multilateral cooperation, better macroeconomic policy coordination and a debt solution based on the principles of common action and fair burden-sharing, and said growth is the fundamental way to resolve developing-country debt problems and restore debt sustainability. Pan also said China's economy is generally stable and improving, with continued structural optimization, steady financial markets and no change in the underlying conditions supporting long-term growth. He said China's government will continue to push economic restructuring as a strategic focus in the 15th Five-Year Plan, while China will not deliberately pursue a trade surplus, will expand domestic demand and maintain high-level opening-up. He added that the People's Bank of China will keep advancing the transformation of its monetary policy framework, improve the interest-rate system and continue to implement an appropriately loose monetary policy.