China's economic deceleration not necessarily reason for concern

China's deceleration in economic growth is being carried out in a well-thought manner and is not necessarily a reason for concern, a Brazilian expert said on Friday.

According to Livio Ribeiro, a Brazilian economist from governmental policies think tank Getulio Vargas Foundation, there are structural and conjunctural aspects involved in China's deceleration.

Among the conjunctural factors are, he said, some excesses committed in the countercyclical policies the country carried on to tackle the international crisis that started in 2008, which led to a rise in credit and indebtedness.

But most importantly, China's structural model is changing, which also led to the deceleration of the country's growth rate in recent years. China is transitioning from a model with strong support to investments and focus in the international demand to a model in which consumption and services have a stronger role. So the fact that China is growing at a slower pace now is not necessarily a bad thing.

"I am not concerned with the deceleration of the economy. I would be more concerned if the Chinese government tried to achieve a higher short-term growth rate at any cost," he said.

Ribeiro believes this change is healthy for the Chinese economy, saying that, while China had a higher growth rate at the beginning of the century, it is now a bigger economy and has more importance in the global scenario.

"In terms of absorption of goods and maybe even services, China is a more relevant player now than it was in the beginning of the 2000s," he said.

"So one must look at the deceleration figures with care, because those figures are not the only important information," he added.

Ribeiro said that China will continue to decelerate to a growth rate of 6 percent to 6.2 percent by the end of the decade, but this will be a good outcome if it is done in the way it has been done so far.