Global Economy

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<b>China’s Exports Fall by Most Since 1999 as Wen Pledges Stimulus</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Shipments dropped 2.8 percent, the official China Daily said today. That compares with a 21.7 percent gain a year earlier. <b>Exports grew 17.2 percent for all of 2008, the newspaper said, down from 25.7 percent in 2007</b>.

Waning export demand has led to protests by fired factory employees, <b>an exodus of 600,000 migrant workers from the manufacturing hub of Guangdong, and an estimated urban unemployment rate of more than 9 percent.</b> Premier Wen Jiabao pledged Jan. 11 to add to the nation’s 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package to create jobs and avoid social instability.

“There is little hope that exports will recover this year, as developed economies remain mired in recessions,” said Sun Mingchun, a Hong Kong-based economist at Nomura Holdings. “Textile, steel and electronic exports are the most badly hurt.”
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