Speech

By Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF
Beijing, March 20, 2016

As Prepared For Delivery

Your Excellence, Vice Premier Zhang Goali, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen; good morning! Zao Shang Hao! 早上好！

I always find it such a great pleasure to come back to Beijing in the Springtime--and in the company of such an esteemed audience. I would like to thank Mr. Li Wei and his colleagues at the Development Research Center for inviting me here today.

Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate China on its leadership of the G20 this year. 

During the “Two-Session” meeting that concluded last week, China launched the new Five-Year Plan. The Plan clearly articulates President Xi’s vision of the path to "rejuvenate" the Chinese nation. One way to interpret the Plan's main objectives is growth and development for the people, by the people, and shared with the people.

China is the midst of an historic transition which will transform its economy and deliver economic and environmental sustainability.  This transition is good for China and good for the world. 

We should expect that, like any major transition, it will at times be bumpy. A delicate balance needs to be struck between shifting to a relatively slower but more sustainable pace of growth, and advancing much-needed structural reforms.

Three policy imperatives can help guide this balance, combined in what I call the ONE principle. What is that? Open, Narrow, Expand. 

• Open -- the Chinese economy: make it more market-driven and deepen its integration with the global economy. The inclusion of the renminbi in the SDR basket is a clear demonstration of China's continued commitment to further integration.

• Narrow -- the gap between the rich and the poor, the rural and the urban, and with greater emphasis on green development. This will ensure that prosperity is durable and widely shared.

• Expand -- innovation and entrepreneurship, increase investment in R&D, and move up the value-added chain. This will generate new drivers of growth.

Open, Narrow, Expand -- the ONE principle.

These key elements are brought together by the Five-Year Plan. Their implementation will help China to achieve higher-quality, more inclusive, more sustainable growth—and to realize the “Chinese dream”.

As the Chinese proverb goes: “When people work with one mind, they can even move Mountain Taishan” rén xīn qí, tài shān yí [人心齐，泰山移] 

The IMF remains China's steadfast partner. Together, we can “move” Mountain Taishan!

Thank you.