STORY: Growth of Chinese domestic demand provides opportunities: Spanish economist
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 22, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 24, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:28
LOCATION: BARCELONA, Spain
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of China's economic development
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Catalan): SERGI BASCO, Economist and associate professor of economics at Barcelona University
3. various of China's economic development
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Catalan): SERGI BASCO, Economist and associate professor of economics at Barcelona University

STORYLINE:

An economist at Barcelona University told Xinhua on Monday that an expanding middle class in China and domestic demand growth could provide business opportunities for European companies.
   
SOUNDBITE 1 (Catalan): SERGI BASCO, Economist and associate professor of economics at Barcelona University
"If we're wary of customs duties and the difficulties of growing through exports, one option is to produce and sell in China, especially as we can expect an increase in domestic demand in China, but to do that we need to generate confidence in our products among the Chinese."
   
Commenting on recent data showing that China's economy outperformed forecasts and grew by 5.2 percent in 2023, the professor said that "what's really important is to ensure that economic growth is stable in the next five to ten years."

SOUNDBITE 2 (Catalan): SERGI BASCO, Economist and associate professor of economics at Barcelona University
"What must be done first is to generate confidence among Chinese consumers, so they see the economy is doing better and consume more, and once they start consuming more and there's more internal demand, then foreign companies will see that market and go there."
   
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Barcelona, Spain.
(XHTV)