Annual Report 2019

27 ANNUAL REPORT 2019 Upholding the belief in mutual benefits, the Group has been actively engaged in infrastructure construction and social welfare at the place where the Group invested, and is always dedicated to building a relationship with local communities with mutual trust and support, as well as committed to achieving rapid, healthy and quality development together with local communities. In 2019, the Group launched “China Merchants Silk Road Hope Village” project in Sri Lanka. After conducting visits and surveys, the Group selected Pannia Village for the designated village of poverty alleviation, as it has a great impoverished population and weak infrastructure. The Group helped the village build community centres and roads, and donated school supplies and daily necessities to local students and the elderly. In the State of Paraná in Brazil where TCP is located, the Group sponsored the development and inheritance of the local Caesar culture by providing financial support and carrying out occupational and technical training for young Indians to help with their employment. The Group continued to build the “Shaping Blue Dreams Together (C-Blue)” charity brand and organised various activities which concerned the ocean and humanities. “Shaping Blue Dreams Together — Summer Camp for Caring Left-behind Children” continued to invite 50 families with left-behind children from the Group’s staff to gather in Shenzhen and visit the West Shenzhen Port Zone. The activity not only offered the children an opportunity to visit a modern intelligent port, but also provided a chance of family reunion for the left-behind children. Besides, the Group continued to train up the outstanding and key staff for the overseas projects through the “Shaping Blue Dreams Together — C Blue Training Programme in the 21 st Century”. In 2019, the programme admitted a total of 44 outstanding young people from 13 countries along the Belt and Road, including a group of outstanding local university students majored in port or shipping from Sri Lanka for the first time, which not only provided a platform of learning and advancement, experience sharing and cultural exchange, but also made contribution to the Group and the global port and shipping industry with efforts in talent development. FUTURE PROSPECTS Looking into 2020, the growth of the global economy is expected to slow down due to the heightening trade barriers, rising geopolitical uncertainties, slow productivity growth, structural problems caused by the ageing population, as well as the impact of the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic worldwide. Dragged by the prolonged sluggishness of the manufacturing industry, the economic growth of developed economies will narrow. Amid the global economic and trade tensions, the contribution from the investment and net exports to the growth of the US economy will notably decline. In the year of the US presidential election, coupled with changes in the US political arena, the economic outlook of the US will be compromised to some extent. The European economies are lingering at low levels with the impact of the Brexit and populism still spreading. Japan has raised the consumption tax rate to 10%, which will weaken its endogenous growth. Emerging markets and developing economies will face the uncertainties caused by the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic. For many other economies, economic growth will tend to decelerate as exports and investment remain weak. Meanwhile, the social and political turmoil in certain emerging economies, notably in regions such as the Middle East and North Africa, will drag economic growth. According to the forecast of IMF in January, the growth of the global economy will be 3.3% in 2020, slightly up by 0.4 percentage point as compared to that of 2019. In particular, the developed economies will grow at 1.6%, down by 0.1 percentage point as compared to that of 2019; and the emerging markets and developing economies will grow at 4.4%, up 0.7 percentage point as compared to that of 2019. Global trade volume (including goods and services) will grow by 2.9%, up by 1.9 percentage points as compared to that of 2019. However, considering the impact from the global pandemic, IMF expected to cut the above forecast. In 2020, the Chinese economy will maintain a reasonable growth rate and advance towards the direction of high- quality development. China will continue to implement active fiscal policy in 2020, and the effect of maintaining basically stable leverage ratios of the macroeconomy will be gradually revealed with domestic consumption, high-tech industries and service industries continuing to grow at a relatively fast pace. Despite the lingering uncertainties over the US-China