China's richest man says time for government to abandon high growth rate 'fantasy'

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's richest man said on Thursday the government needs to give up any "fantasy" of maintaining high economic growth rates, unusually bold comments at a time when Beijing is grappling to contain a market meltdown that has hammered global equities.

Billionaire Wang Jianlin, speaking after his company Dalian Wanda Group said it had bought World Triathlon Corp (WTC) for $650 million, added that the key was whether economic growth is "sustainable and safe".

"China's economy needs to transform from relying on investment and exports to consumption. That's a painful process. If the transformation doesn't happen now, it would be even more painful in the future," Wang said.

"China needs to drop the fantasy of keeping a high growth rate of 7 or 8 percent and just accept 6, 7 or even 5 percent," Wang said.

Fears that a deepening slowdown in China could hurt the global economy have rocked global commodities and stock markets.



Full story at Yahoo News.
By Shu Zhang and Matthew Miller.