Wang Xiaolu believes the latest economic data provides evidence the Chinese economy is rebalancing.
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The 63-year-old is deputy director of the National Economic Research Institute, a leading independent think tank and one of China's most widely respected economists.
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The National Bureau of Statistics data, published on July 16, showed that services, and not manufacturing, continued to be the major driver of growth for the second quarter in a row. It made up 48.9 percent of additional GDP, compared with the secondary sector's 47.1 percent.
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"I think you can see some initial rebalancing of the economy over the past couple of years. No one quarter would define rebalancing since it is very much a long-term, rather than short-term process," he says.
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Wang was speaking in the offices of the NERI in the Xicheng district of Beijing, where he has worked for the past 16 years. Various seemingly incomprehensible calculations are scrawled on the white board behind him.
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He believes there is some initial evidence of the government's attempts to rebalance the economy working but implementation of reforms will still present a challenge.Â
Wang Xiaolu believes the latest economic data provides evidence the Chinese economy is rebalancing.
