On February 29, 2016, I spoke at an invitation-only conference hosted by my good friends at Creación De Capitales in San Jose, Costa Rica. My speech was titled The Chinese Economy and its Impact on Global Business, and was well attended. That night I discussed some of the business concepts contained in my last book, Doing Business in the Land of the Dragon. Many of those in attendance were concerned about the direction of the Chinese economy. Some believed that it was imploding and that, if it did, it would take many other economies with it. This was a legitimate concern because, if the Chinese economy collapses, so do a great many others around the globe. My feeling is that this isn’t going to happen, and I provided many facts which supported that comment. I’ll try and outline those in a subsequent blog. But, for now, most economists believe that in the next decade or so China will become the dominant world economy. Below are compiled statistics from Britain’s Centre for Economics and Business Research, which indicate the projected state of world economies in 2028.

Rank          Country                                    GDP

1                  China                                     33, 513

2                  United States                       32, 241

3                  India                                        6,560

4                  Japan                                      6,415

5                  Brazil                                       5,143

6                  Germany                                4,398

7                  United Kingdom                   4,305

8                  Russia                                     4,125

9                  Mexico                                    3,697

10               Canada                                     3,677

Takes into account slowing down of China’s economy

As you can see, China’s economy is expected to continue to grow and overtake that of the United States in a little over a decade. For those companies who intend to expand their business outside their borders, China is an opportunity that rarely comes along. With projected economic growth that places it as the world’s number one economy by 2028, even with its growth leveling at around 5%, the Middle Kingdom is where you want to be. Feeding this growth is a consumer-led economy where the middle class is on the rise and wages and household income have been increasing, at least for the moment, at 13% and 7% respectively.

My thanks to Carlos Chotocruz and Carlos Gonzalez of Creación De Capitales for their hospitality in having me speak at their conference.