South China Morning Post:
Right now, large parts of southern China are hit by severe flooding, and so I wonder whether you have estimated the disaster's impact on the overall economy? Have the impact been taken into account when you estimated GDP data for the second quarter of 2020? How much impact will the disasters, including the current flooding and the COVID-19 epidemic, impose on Chinese economy in the second half of the year?
Liu Aihua:
Thank you for your questions. Recently, there are many reports about the flooding in China's southern regions. I have paid close attention to the impact of the disaster just as has everyone else. The currently released statistics for June reflect the impact on some fields such as consumer prices. The consumer price index (CPI) data in June showed that prices for fresh vegetables rebounded in that month compared to month-on-month and year-on-year declines registered in May. Prices for fresh vegetables went up 4.2% year-on-year in June, compared with the 8.5% decline in May. However, the impact of flooding in other fields is still being closely monitored. We will continue to keep a close watch and take such impact into account in the future calculations.
For the second question, you asked how the flooding in southern regions would affect economic prospects in the second half of the year. Currently, in some flood-hit areas, people's daily life and work indeed have been greatly affected. In the first half of the year, during the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, we adopted many macroeconomic policies to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustments, and accumulated rich experience in macro-regulation and ensuring policy space. We will pay close attention to and promptly reflect the impact in this regard. Thank you.
