Survey: Chinese more bullish on economy

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, April8 -- Forty-five percent of Chinese on the mainland feel that the national economy has been getting stronger, according to a recent global economic confidence survey conducted in 19 countries by N-Dynamic Market Research Consultancy.

Only 8 percent of the respondents globally were
bullish about the economy, the survey showed.

(Source: China Daily)
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The survey revealed that the Chinese have the most
confidence in their local economy, while the Japanese and the British were the
most pessimistic, with 82 percent of those respondents saying their economies
were getting worse, while 72 percent of respondents in the U.S. were
pessimistic.

Only 48 percent of Chinese respondents felt the pinch
of the financial turmoil, while 98 percent of their counterparts in Japan, South
Korea and the U.S. said they were hit hard, according to the study done earlier
this year among 16,000 respondents all over the world.

With respect to personal financial condition only 15
percent of Chinese respondents painted a gloomy picture, while over half of the
respondents in South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Mexico did.

Nearly 40 percent of Chinese respondents believed the
economy would recover within six months to two years. While only 13 percent of
Chinese respondents felt the crisis would last for more than two years, the
world's average was 36 percent.

Priscilla Sze, managing director of N-Dynamic, said
business enterprises all over the world were eyeing Chinese consumers.

"Some enterprises might enter the China market for
the first time to cater to the needs of Chinese consumers. Export-oriented
companies like apparel firms might switch to target the domestic market by
building their own brands. It would result in more choices for the consumers at
the retail level."

On the downside, 42 percent of Chinese respondents on
the mainland have already tightened their belts on daily necessities. Nearly
one-third of the Chinese respondents held back their property buying plans,
compared to the world's average of 23 percent.

Half of the Chinese respondents adopted a
wait-and-see attitude on consumption while 20 percent said it was a bad time to
buy now, which still fared much better than the global average of 48 percent.

Though 40 percent of the Chinese respondents had
confidence in keeping their jobs in the next six months, 30 percent expressed
concern, especially those aged 36-45.

The global economic confidence survey was conducted
in February among 1,000 people aged 18-60 in 57 cities across 30 provinces in
China. N-Dynamic is a member of International Research InstituteS (IriS), a
global network composed of independent market research agencies across 30
countries.

(Source: China Daily)