Australian Society of Accountants Survey says China's economic recovery is promising

On the afternoon of June 25, the Australian Society of Accountants just released a survey of confidence in China's economic recovery, which showed that respondents were confident about the prospects for a recovery.　　Some two-thirds professionals from the financial, accounting and business sectors expect the Chinese economy to start to recover in the fourth quarter of 2009 to the first half of 2010. The Australian Society of Accountants (CPA) is one of the largest accounting professional organizations in the world, with over 11,000 members in Hong Kong and mainland China and more than 122,000 members worldwide.　　The survey, launched by the association, showed that 54.4% per cent of respondents saw government consumption as a driving force for GDP growth. When talking about some of the government's stimulus measures, 41.1% of the respondents thought that the 4 trillion infrastructure investment scheme played the most important role in stimulating the economy, and 34.7% and 22.7% of the respondents said that stimulating market consumption and export tax rebate policies could stimulate the economy.　　Other respondents believed that the four industries that led the Chinese economy to recovery were manufacturing (33%), real Estate (19.1%), TRADE/export (15.8%) and retail (13.5%).　　The survey, conducted by the Australian Society of accountants from late May to the beginning of June, attracted a total of 215 participants from accounting, consultancy, education, financial services, insurance, legal, manufacturing, real estate and FMCG industries.　　Respondents in the survey were confident of the development of China's stock market, with 48.9% per cent confident that the Shanghai Composite Index would be expected to rise to a new high of 3000 to 3,499 points in 2009.　　More than half of the respondents (52.6%) also agreed that a rigorous disclosure system would benefit Chinese listed companies to enhance transparency and improve corporate governance.　　The survey also showed that 63.7% of respondents believed that the financial crisis would not lead to a reduction in China's investment in Australia for the next 1 years, and that 50.7% per cent expected China to become Australia's largest trade importer by 2009 instead of the US.　　The mining and Energy industries (75.3%) are seen as the most effective areas for promoting bilateral trade relations between China and Australia, followed by professional services (10.7%) and Tourism (8.4%). 46.6% predicted that more than 10% of the "Qualified Domestic institutional Investor scheme" (QDII) would be invested in the Australian market, while 42.8% per cent said policy transparency could be a major bottleneck for bilateral investment in China and Australia. (Ann)