China should effectively prevent and defuse major economic and financial risks relating real estate market and local government debt in 2023, according to a government work report submitted Sunday to the national legislature for deliberation.

Analysts noted economic and financial risks featured more prominently in this year's work report, which was not specifically discussed in last year's government work report.

"At this stage, economic and financial risks mainly include risks in the real estate market, small and medium-sized financial institutions and local government debt," Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of research of JLL Greater China told China Media Group (CMG).

"Generally speaking, they are controllable, preventable and manageable," Pang added.

As for the real estate market, the report noted that efforts should be made to prevent “unregulated” expansion in the property market to promote stable development of the real estate sector.

The report also pledged to "ensure effective risk prevention and mitigation in high-quality, leading real estate enterprises".

"The policy focused on ensuring that high-quality housing enterprises can be stabilized, which is the base of the industry and the market," said Li Yujia, chief researcher at the Guangdong Planning Institute's residential policy research center.

The country should also make efforts to prevent and defuse local government debt risks, according to the report.

The government should improve the monitoring mechanism and resolutely curb the increase in debt, said Pang.

"In the longer term, we need to make concerted efforts to increase revenue and reduce expenditure."

(Cover via CFP)