Declining overseas orders leave Chinese exporters no choice but to batten down the hatches

for increasingly rough times ahead. It seems that policymakers must consider

a comprehensive fiscal package to boost economic growth.

The deepening global economic downturn has substantially cut demand for Chinese exports. Though the central government has already come up with a slew of taxation and credit incentives to help exporters, the efforts to boost export growth still do not match the scale of the problem. Meanwhile, the global growth outlook is becoming even dimmer. The IMF has announced a downward revision of its growth projections for the world economy, saying that “global activity is slowing quickly.”

In spite of China’s attempts to diversity its export markets, economic recessions in the US, Europe and Japan will make it impossible for Chinese exporters to find enough orders from emerging economies to take up the slack from ebbing exports to advanced countries. Besides, the idea that industrial upgrade can help Chinese enterprises ride themselves out of the financial crisis and economic slowdown remains a theory in need of a reality check. A further slowdown of the country’s export growth looks inevitable given deteriorating conditions of the world economy.