Brazilian scholar: China is an important market for Latin America during the epidemic

Source: Xinhua Net Author: Gong Ruohan 2021-02-01 09:12:21

Bruno de Conti, a professor at the Institute of Economics at the State University of Campinas in Brazil, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that the global economic and trade situation in 2020 will be impacted by the new world epidemic, and trade between China and Latin America will grow against the trend.

De Conti said that China took the lead in effectively controlling the epidemic and recovering its economy, and has become the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth. China has gradually restored consumer demand to provide markets for Latin American goods.

"Latin American exports to China remain strong and even grow, avoiding further damage to the regional economy and demonstrating the importance of China to the region."

China is Latin America's main trading partner, and "at a time when other major trading partners in Latin America are in recession, China is the lifeline for Latin America," de Conti said.

For Mr De Conti, the economic performance of Latin America's largest economy in this crisis year confirms the importance of China as a major trading partner.

"Despite Brazil's negative GDP growth in 2020, trade between China and Brazil will continue to grow, with two-thirds of Brazil's trade surplus coming from exports to China."

He said.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean recently released a preliminary report on the region's foreign trade situation in 2020, showing that the region's exports in 2020 will drop by 13%, of which intra-regional exports will drop by 24%, exports to the United States and the EU will drop by 14% and 13% respectively;

But exports to China grew by 2 per cent, thanks to exports of agricultural and mineral products.

Editor in charge: Ge Yan