South China Morning Post: China Is 'In Better Shape Than Many'

South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based English language newspaper, which was acquired by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA in late 2015, laid out the case for why China's economy is "in better shape than many" other G20 nations.

SCMP's Neal Kimberley began by noting the Chinese economy expanded between 7 and 7.5 percent in 2015 at a time when other emerging economies, such as Brazil and Russia, contracted by close to 4 percent.

Related Link: JPMorgan Releases A Barrage Of Coverage On Chinese Internet Names

China's real gross domestic product is expected to slow to 5.9 percent in 2020 from 6.9 percent in 2015 — a problem that Kimberley suggested Brazil's President Michel Temer and Russia's President Vladimir Putin "would likely prefer" over their contracting economies.

Despite China's forecast of growth for the next few years, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cautioned that China's "medium-term outlook is clouded" by several factors, including rising corporate debt and an "opaque" financial sector.

"China's own economy, though not without its own problems, still looks in better shape than the economies of many of the G20," Kimberley suggested.

For instance, within the European Union, the economy is "hardly flourishing" as economic growth rose just 0.3 percent in the second quarter while the region's third largest economy, Italy, saw no economic growth at all in the second quarter.

Canada, another G20 member, saw its economy shrink by an annualized 1.6 percent in the second quarter of 2016, marking the country's worse quarterly reading dating back to 2009. Japan's economy expanded by just 0.2 percent in the second quarter despite ongoing monetary policy easing from the Bank of Japan.

In the United States, the recent jobs report suggested that the economy may not be growing as fast or as strong as needed for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates.

Do you have ideas for articles/interviews you'd like to see more of on Benzinga? Please email feedback@benzinga.com with your best article ideas. One person will be randomly selected to win a $20 Amazon gift card!