The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Monday held a meeting to analyze the current economic situation and make arrangements for economic work in the second half of the year (H2).

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting.

Strong fundamentals remain unchanged

China's economy is facing new challenges, mainly arising from insufficient domestic demand, difficulties in the operation of some enterprises, risks and hidden dangers in key areas, as well as a grim and complex external environment, according to the meeting.

Despite the challenges, it noted that the nation's economy has enormous resilience and potential. The positive fundamentals for long-term development remain unchanged.

To invigorate capital market and boost investor confidence

The meeting called for efforts to invigorate the capital market and boost investor confidence.

Dong Shaopeng, deputy editor-in-chief of Securities Daily, believes that the requirement is coordinated and integrated with policies and measures to stabilize investment, promote consumption, and strengthen industries.

"We need to further utilize the capital market mechanism to accelerate economic recovery and achieve steady growth and high-quality development," said Dong.

The meeting called for carrying out macroeconomic regulation with precision and force, strengthening counter-cyclical regulation, and making more policy options available.

Dong believes that "this will have an important supporting role in implementing proactive fiscal policies and prudent monetary policies."

"We should strengthen the coordination between capital market policies and overall macroeconomic policies. We must strongly consider the importance of capital markets in facilitating high-quality macroeconomic operation," Dong added.  

Meanwhile, the meeting also underlined the need to map out policies to promote private investment, and to take more measures in stabilizing the fundamentals of international trade and foreign investment.

To expand domestic demand and boost consumption

While calling for unleashing the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth, the meeting said that consumption should be stimulated in major sectors, such as automobiles, electronic products and household goods. Service consumption in sports, entertainment, culture and tourism should also be promoted.

"China aims to innovate consumption scenarios, enhance consumers' consumption ability, improve consumption conditions, and unleash the consumption force," said Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of research at JLL Greater China told CGTN.

China's consumer market has shown steady recovery in the first half of the year. Consumer spending contributed to 77.2 percent of economic growth, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Pang believes that financial policies could stimulate consumer confidence and business expectations through further subsidies and incentives.

Adjustment and optimization of real estate policies

The meeting also called for concrete efforts in preventing and defusing risks in key areas, as well as efficiently adjusting and optimizing policies for the real estate sector to promote the stable and healthy growth of the sector.

It is necessary to utilize city-specific measures to meet residents' essential housing demand, as well as advance the stable development of the real estate market, the meeting said.

"This means the real estate market will strive for a balance between protecting demand and ensuring the supply side," said Pang.

The next step is to help real estate companies in relieving difficulties and the overall market in achieving stable and healthy development, he added.

(With input from Xinhua)