China to achieve S. Korea's current living standard in 2020: report

By Kim Young-gyo

HONG KONG, March 4 (Yonhap) -- China is likely to see its living standard reach South Korea's current level in 2020, a Goldman Sachs report said Thursday.

In the report that assessed China's consumption level, a Goldman Sachs analyst
said that China's per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) could rise to between
US$14,000 and $17,000 by 2020 from $4,220 projected for 2010.
"China's overall living standard by 2020, measured by per-capita GDP, could
roughly match today's Taiwan and Korea levels," said Goldman Sachs analyst Thomas
Deng in the report.
According to the report, per-capita GDP of South Korea and Taiwan stood at
US$16,797 and at $16,143, respectively, in 2009.
The Goldman Sachs analyst explained that he factored in potential currency
appreciation of around 3 percent per annum and an annual inflation of some 2
percent when making the equation.
"(The equation is) reasonable given China's high productivity growth relative to
major developed markets," Deng said.
Goldman Sachs has recently set out its forecast that China will deliver a
compound growth rate of around 8.2 percent per annum in the next decade.
"China could potentially become a $12 trillion economy by 2020, ranking as the
second-largest economy globally and only trailing the U.S. by around $6 trillion
in economic size by then," the report said.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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