China's impact on world markets hyped: regulator

Xu Shaoshi, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, gestures during a press conference for the fourth session of China's 12th National People's Congress (NPC) on the country's economic and social development and the draft outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan in Beijing, capital of China, March 6, 2016.[Xinhua/Chen Yichen]

BEIJING -- China's impact on lately turmoil in global financial markets is hyped, a senior economic official said Sunday on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

"There was a rumor that China's stock and foreign exchange markets' turbulence in January contributed to the chaos in the United States and Europe," said Xu Shaoshi, who heads the National Development and Reform Commission.

"China is unable to produce such a spillover," Xu said.

From February 8 through 12, big drops were witnessed in US and European stock markets, as well as bulk commodities such as crude oil, but Chinese were celebrating Spring Festival while the financial markets were being closed, Xu said.

China accounted for a quarter of the world's economic growth in 2014, Xu said, citing data from the World Bank and China's National Bureau of Statistics.