/ china - and - bcsign - wood - frame - mou. china ’ s investments in canada reached $ 25 billion in 2014, 115 times more than they were in 2001. meanwhile, canadian investments in china rose by a factor of 10 during the same period, to $ 7 billion. bis central bankers ’ speeches the opening last year of the canadian renminbi trading hub, which will make it easier for our companies to use renminbi in business transactions. canadian financial institutions are active in china, and, just a few months ago, british columbia became one of the first governments to issue panda bonds in china. slower – but steady – wins the race let me turn to my second point. while china ’ s economic growth has had an overall positive impact on the canadian economy, that growth is slowing. it ’ s slowing to a more sustainable pace, and this is not only inevitable, it ’ s desirable. the chinese economy expanded by a little less than 7 per cent last year. that sounds fast relative to advanced economies, but it ’ s the slowest pace for china in 25 years and down from the double - digit numbers of a few years ago. the slowdown is natural. the economic strategy that the chinese have pursued over the past 15 years cannot continue indefinitely. the strategy is simple : add more workers and more capital to increase the economy ’ s potential to produce goods, and then sell those goods in global markets. this has run its course, for a couple of reasons. first, demographic forces are no longer in china ’ s favour – the working - age population is projected to shrink by about 5 per cent by 2030. 8 second, china ’ s reliance on investment is not sustainable – it was 46 per cent of gdp in 2014, compared with 25 per cent for other emerging - market and developing economies and 20 per cent for advanced economies. 9 the strong investment policy is increasingly creating redundant or unproductive capital in china, which may boost growth in the short run but also increases the odds of painful economic adjustments in the future. a critical question is where growth in china is likely to settle if the transition is successful. bank of canada researchers judge that china has the potential to grow at an annual rate of around 6 per cent, on average, over the next 15 years. 10 at that pace, it takes less than 12 years for the economy to double in size. to understand how such growth is possible, recall that china ’ s gdp per capita is

zeti akhtar aziz : facing malaysia ’ s current economic challenges speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the invest malaysia 2015 “ facing malaysia ’ s current economic challenges ”, kuala lumpur, 23 april 2015. * * * it gives me great pleasure to be here at invest malaysia 2015. this event takes place at a time of major transformative change in the world, in the region and in our country. these changes include the world becoming more inter - connected, integrated and interdependent within and across countries. it also reflects the significant shifts in demographic structures occurring in major parts of the world and the marked transformation in the international financial landscape following the international regulatory reforms prompted by the recent global financial crisis. slower but nevertheless equally far - reaching are the changes in the institutional arrangements that are altering international and regional circumstances. a further fundamental change is the greater reliance on unprecedented and unconventional monetary policy responses that has brought us into uncharted territory. and finally, the world is also being transformed by the more significant cross - border financial, information and talent flows. my remarks today will touch on three key areas : the current challenges confronting the global and domestic economy in this new environment ; the intrinsic strengths of the malaysian economy that will enable us to navigate through these more challenging times ; and finally on the new changing profile of malaysia ’ s investment landscape and what it means for the prospects of our economy. key challenges and prospect for the world and domestic economy we meet today at the time when the international economic and financial environment has become immensely more challenging. to a large extent, this has been due to the significantly higher degree of uncertainty that has prevailed on several fronts in the world today. firstly, is the uncertainty about the prospects for global growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. the persistence of this uncertainty is now having its implication on sentiment and confidence. secondly, are the conditions in the commodity and financial markets that have become more volatile. the massive shifts in global liquidity are precipitating volatile capital flows with its immense implications on the asset and foreign exchange markets. thirdly, is the increased uncertainty prevailing in the policy environment in the global economy in terms of the extent and timing of policy changes. in particular, is the uncertainty with respect to the timing of the exit from the highly accommodative policies and the implications of the divergent monetary policy stance that are being pursued in the major economies