The World Economic Forum's industry leaders and representatives are a little concerned about the potential inflationary effects of China's economic reopening even though it may help global growth.
José Vials, Chairman of Standard Chartered, projected this week in Davos that China will have a very good year and surprise to the upside.
"The Chinese economy is going to be on fire and that's going to be very, very important for the rest of the world," he said in an interview with CNBC.
China's plan to reintroduce tourism and make it simpler for Chinese citizens to travel overseas was one of the most hotly debated themes at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
Overall, this is seen as one of the most significant economic events in 2023, with the business community visibly thrilled about entering into new agreements with the world's second-largest economy.
On the other end, there are concerns about what this means for inflation and living costs.
″[If] Chinese demand for other goods starts picking up, if that creates a bigger pressure on commodity prices, for example, natural gas, big issue in Europe, if Chinese natural gas demand increases, because the factories, their households demand more electricity, then it's going to put pressure on Europe because natural gas, they're competing [in] the same markets for liquid natural gas," Raghuram Rajan, former central bank governor of the Reserve Bank of India, said.
"So China's opening [is] good news overall, but potentially, the inflationary impact - there could be some," he said.
The International Energy Agency has issued a warning that because there will be more competition for natural gas this year, European businesses may pay more when looking to buy it. For the past year, inflation has been one of the major problems facing Europeans, primarily due to rising energy prices.
Satish Shankar, general partner for APAC at consulting firm Bain & Company, stated during a panel discussion moderated by CNBC: "I think China's opening will therefore increase consumption in global energy, it could cause some inflation."
Some analysts have cautioned that the U.S. Federal Reserve may need to keep hiking rates if this turns out to be the case.
"In our view ... a stronger China increases the chances of a stubbornly hawkish Fed," Tavis McCourt, institutional equity strategist at Raymond James, said in his 2023 outlook.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto CEO Jakob Stausholm said in Davos that he is "absolutely convinced" that China's reopening will benefit the global economy.
China recently announced a 3% growth forecast for 2022, the worst rate since 1976. Nonetheless, shorter-term data has raised hopes for a stronger-than-expected recovery, with December retail sales and industrial production both exceeding expectations.
