BEIJING/TIANJIN, China--China's policymakers and leading economists on Sunday voiced concerns about Britain's vote to leave the European Union, with the finance minister saying it has heightened market uncertainty, though some expect a limited impact on the Chinese economy.
The "Brexit" decision "will cast a shadow over the global economy ... The repercussions and fallout will emerge in the next five to 10 years," said Lou Jiwei, China's minister of finance, at the first annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.
"It's difficult to predict now," he said. "The knee-jerk reaction from the market is probably a bit excessive and needs to calm down and take an objective view."
Stock markets around the world plunged in the wake of the referendum. Sterling's value also plummeted.
Lou's views were echoed by the head of China's top economic planning authority and other economists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the northern city of Tianjin.
"For Chinese firms that are going to invest or carry out mergers, entrepreneurs are smarter than me, and they will definitely wait and see," Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at WEF on Sunday. "The Brexit incident wil affect China's economy via investment, trade and capital," he said. "But I believe the impact will not be big and relevant government departments have made contingency plans."
Huang Yiping, a professor at Peking University and a member of the central bank's monetary policy committee, said it is hard to judge the direct impact of the British referendum on China's economy. "If (Brexit) is an important landmark in terms of a reversal of globalisation, I think that's very bad for the world, it's very bad for China," Huang said.
