China might be rattling global markets in a big way at the moment, but not all business leaders thinks it’s about to drag the world’s economy into another crisis.
“China is a growing economy, but is also the number two economy worldwide. So yes, (China) slowdown could mean some slowdown elsewhere in the world, yet it could not drive a crisis. Absolutely not, I do not believe it,” Jean-Louis Chaussade, CEO of French utility firm, Suez (Environnement), told CNBC on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a conference held by French business lobby, Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF), in Jouy-en-Josas, France, where China has been a hot topic after days of extreme volatility on global markets following growth concerns.
Like a number of other sectors in Europe, utilities have come under pressure this week, but Chaussade insisted that he wasn’t concerned about a Chinese crash, as the country was doing its best to control the situation.
“For Suez, the concerns are very limited. For the last five-to-six years now, the Chinese government has been very much concerned about environmental consequences of the economic growth of the country. They’ve been taking steps to ensure better environment control,” Chaussade told CNBC Wednesday, adding that this has meant more business for his company.
“I do not believe the slowdown that we are facing should be a problem for Suez Environnement. Actually, I do believe we are going to continue to grow,” Chaussade added, dismissing the idea of another global crisis.
The CEO of Adecco France – part of one the world’s largest HR companies, Adecco – agreed and said he didn’t think slowing Chinese growth would have a huge impact on employment.
“Our growth rate in China is very, very important. Today it’s a main market for us in terms of the number of people in temporary work,” Christophe Catoir told CNBC. “The growth rate is one of the best today — we can imagine the growth may be slower, but not too much, so the impact is not huge.”
But not everyone’s so optimistic looking ahead. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that France’s economic minister, Emmanuel Macron, said recent developments in China posed a risk to the global economic recovery and should not be underestimated.
Bruno Lafont, honorary chairman at building materials company Lafarge Holcim, added that China is such a large economy, every change in growth will have a global impact.
“Today we are living with several adjustments. However if you compute correctly what the IMF is saying about global growth – global growth will remain very positive in years to come, and China will not be the only one (with) influence,” he told CNBC.
“Of course turbulences are there and we have to cope with those turbulences and we have to react.”
Source: CNBC
