2. Backdrop to the stimulus: the economic and fiscal situation
Through its transition to a market economy, China has achieved a remarkably long and sustained growth, and has emerged over the past few years as a global economic power. In 2009, it surpassed Germany to become the largest exporting nation, and in 2010 it passed Japan to become the second-largest economy in the world. These achievements came perhaps earlier than expected, partly as a result of the global economic slowdown that began in 2007 and ensnared virtually all countries, but from which China’s remarkably quick recovery helped propel it past the others.