China has the resources to achieve its economic growth target of 8 percent this year but a recovery will not be sustainable unless it improves its economic structure, Yu Yongding, an influential economist and former central bank adviser, said on Tuesday. "China's fiscal position is very strong. We can achieve the 8 percent target as long as we're determined to," Yu told a forum in Shanghai.
With expansionary monetary and fiscal policies, he said, the goal could easily be reached. China, the world's third-largest economy, grew at a multi-year low of 6.1 percent in the first quarter, while data for April released on Tuesday painted a mixed picture of its recovery prospects as exports fell more steeply than expected although investment spending surged.
"The economic recovery cannot be sustained unless China carries out structural reforms. China is too reliant on exports and investment," said Yu, who heads the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading government think-tank. Agbank plans to issue bank cards to half of China's 220 million rural households in the next five years, as part of efforts to encourage consumers in rural areas to spend more.