Rio Tinto boss says China will survive recession

27/11/2008 07:59:59

The chairman of the mining giant Rio Tinto says China will survive a global recession.

Paul Skinner says while economic growth will slow this year, China's output will remain strong by Western standards.

Mr Skinner says the current slowdown in China is mainly due to measures taken to control inflation last year.

He says Beijing's recent economic stimulus package and its $US2 tillion in foreign exchange reserves will enable it to avoid the worst of the global downturn.

"Maintaining growth remains a political and social imperative in China. China cannot afford to stop growing.
This means that China will remain the main driver of commodities demand, which is good news for Australia and good news for companies like ours."

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