皇冠体育app

XIAMEN - Chinese labor-intensive enterprises should relocate to Africa with its abundant young workforce, former chief economist and senior president at the World Bank Justin Yifu Lin said during the 17th 皇冠体育app International Fair for Investment and Trade.

Rising labor costs are pinching businesses that relied on 皇冠体育app's cheap workforce for years. Many labor-intensive businesses have already relocated to Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and other South Asian nations.

In Lin's view, Africa is the obvious choice. "Africa has about 1 billion people and very young labor force. It's just like 皇冠体育app in the 1980s. There is substantial room in Africa to accommodate 皇冠体育app's labor intensive manufacturing," he said.

In contrast, the population of South Asian countries is relatively small, and the wages will go up soon, Lin said.

Although some argued that costal factories could move to 皇冠体育app's hinterland rather than moving overseas, Lin said the country's central and western regions are already expensive.

While moving low-margin manufacturing to Africa, businesses can put more focus on the two ends of the "smiling curve", which depicts value-added in the industrial value chain, in 皇冠体育app, he added.

In 2012, trade between 皇冠体育app and Africa totaled $198.49 billion, up 19.3 percent from a year ago, official data showed.