Interview: China has great investment prospects for further development, says German expert

Staff members work at a monocrystalline silicon solar cell factory of LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

China's vast market, improved business climate, and anti-epidemic measures have injected confidence and impetus for foreign companies regarding their long-term development in the country.

FRANKFURT, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China has great investment prospects, which will unleash great potential for further development, a German professor has said.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Horst Loechel, an economics professor at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, said that consumption and investment from companies will be boosted as the epidemic gets over.

Some leading foreign companies have voiced their commitment to expanding their investment in China recently.

According to the 2022 China Business Climate Survey Report jointly released by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) and PwC, around 60 percent of the surveyed companies said they made profits in China in 2021, and two-thirds of them plan to increase their investment in China this year.

Nearly two-thirds of AmCham China's member companies listed China as the world's top investment destination or among the top three investment destinations, the report said.

China's vast market, improved business climate, and anti-epidemic measures have injected confidence and impetus for foreign companies regarding their long-term development in the country.

Loechel sees it as a bet on longer-term returns beyond the pandemic. The foreign companies believe that the pandemic will be over and normal business will come back, he said.

"If normal business is running again, they can make good business, good profits and good revenue."

In fact, the foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Chinese mainland, in actual use, expanded 25.6 percent year on year to 379.87 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said in April.

In U.S. dollar terms, the inflow went up 31.7 percent year on year to 59.09 billion U.S. dollars.

Although the performance of the capital market in China has not been strong due to the pandemic, Loechel believes that the Chinese companies look attractive to investors because of their price earnings ratios.

He also pointed out that it is very important for China to keep up the pace of economic growth.

Digitalization and green economy can be two driving forces for further economic growth in China, he added.