China: An economy in transition

China has achieved extraordinary economic growth in the last several decades. Now, China’s long-term future requires an ambitious restructuring of its economy—one that emphasizes domestic consumption over government investment. Senior leaders from Goldman Sachs, including chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein, discuss why China’s economic transformation is necessary, the potential challenges to the transition and the country’s evolving role as a global economic superpower.

“I think China’s leadership has proven its competence over the last couple of decades,” Blankfein said. “They’ve done incredible work for the economy. They’ve moved a lot of people out of poverty and they’ve increased GDP quite substantially. But the economic model that drove China’s growth in the last couple of decades won’t necessarily support it in the next couple of decades.”

“This is a period of historic change in China,” said Mark Schwartz, chairman, Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific. “There haven’t been many periods in history as fascinating as this. For all of the great outcomes and great benefits from years of rapid industrialization, that period also created many distortions in the economy and many challenges.”

“I think China’s primarily focused on the economic restructuring challenge,” said Robert Zoellick, chairman, Goldman Sachs International Advisors. “This is a process that is not going to be done in a quarter, or a year, or two years, and it’s a huge transformation.”

The video also features Jiming Ha, vice chairman and chief investment strategist, Private Wealth Management China.

Learn more about the implications of China’s economic restructuring and other ideas that are shaping markets around the world.

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