Late-2000s Recession in Asia - East Asia - Mainland China

Mainland China

In China, the International Monetary Fund predicts GDP growth for 2008 will be 9.7% and drop to 8.5% in 2009. A struggle was underway to see who would swallow the losses on US Agencies and Treasuries. On November 9, 2008 China announced a package of capital spending plus income and consumption support measures. Four trillion yuan ($586 billion) will be spent on upgrading infrastructure, particularly roads, railways, airports and the power grid; on raising rural incomes via land reform; and on social welfare projects such as affordable housing and environmental protection. So far at least 670,000 small and medium-size enterprises have been closed; leaving mainly the large-size enterprises (which may or may not contain companies who have outsourced their workplaces away from the United States - leaving at least five million people there unemployed).