The Press Center for the Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China held its first press conference on promoting the stable, healthy and sustainable development of the Chinese economy under the country's new development vision on Tuesday.

The nation's GDP has grown by leaps and bounds over the past 70 years, and in recent decades, the world's second-largest economy has contributed to more than 30 percent of the global economic growth. 

Outlining China's economic achievements over the past 70 years, Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said the national GDP has grown from 67.91 billion yuan (about 9.5 billion U.S. dollars) in 1952 to 90.03 trillion yuan in 2018. 

"And per capita GDP has improved from 119 yuan to 64,600 yuan, which is a 7,000 percent increase in real terms," he said.

Ning also stressed that China's comprehensive national strength, social productivity and people's living standards have greatly improved. The per capita disposable income of Chinese residents in 2018 surged by 5,920 percent from that of 1949, and the per capita consumption expenditure grew by 2,850 percent compared with that of 1956.

Minister of Finance Liu Kun explained how the public finance system gradually improved in the press conference.

According to Liu, "the national fiscal revenue was only 6.2 billion yuan in 1950 and soared to over 18 trillion yuan in 2018, with an average annual growth of 12.5 percent. In other words, the current fiscal revenue per day is equivalent to eight times the annual fiscal revenue of 1950."

"In 2018, the central government's general public budget revenue accounted for 46.6 percent of the national income, but the central level's general public budget expenditure only accounted for 14.8 percent of the national expenditure," said Liu. "That is to say, more than two-thirds of the central general public budget revenue was given to the local government to arrange."

The Governor of People's Bank of China (PBOC) Yi Gang told reporters that China is not in a hurry to make large reserve requirement ratio cuts or quantitative easing measures despite recent U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts and quantitative easing in Europe.

"China's economy is in a reasonable range, and the space for China's macroeconomic policy is still relatively large," said Yi, adding that China's monetary policy should maintain strength.

"Presently, there are 989 branches of foreign-funded banks, 13 foreign-funded securities firms and 50 foreign-funded insurance companies. The RMB exchange rate is mainly determined by market forces and has become notably more flexible," he said. "China will keep its prudent monetary policy."

Answering a question about digital currency, Yi said the PBOC will launch a package that combines the central bank's digital currency with electronic payment instruments, with the goal of replacing some of the cash currently in circulation.

"The central bank's digital currency framework will not change the existing currency supply routes and system, and China does not have a timetable for rolling out its digital currency," he said, adding that the bank intends to conduct a thorough assessment, including risk prevention, before any form of implementations. 

(Su Yuting also contributed to the story)