2018 Central Economic Work Conference: China's top annual economic meeting mapped out next year's development

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First up. A meeting which sets the tone for China's economic policy going into 2019 has wrapped up in Beijing. The annual Central Economic Work Conference has laid out the policy priorities for the year ahead. CGTN's Zou Yun explains.

A roadmap for China's future economic development. Taking a consistent stance on major policies, Chinese senior officials charted the course for the nation's economy.

In 2019, China will continue to pursue a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy. It also emphasized that monetary policy should strike an "appropriate" balance between tightening and loosening, to ensure reasonably ample liquidity while the proactive fiscal policy should be stronger and more efficient.

The measures are part of the government's efforts to foster high-quality development while stabilizing the financial sector.

Experts say the nation's economy may face greater downward pressure in the new year, but add there's no need to be pessimistic.

WANG JIANHUI, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER R&D DEPT. CAPITAL SECURITIES "We won't be facing some radical changes on policy or the internal environment. That's the good news. Despite all the difficulties, I think the country still has lots of cards in hand. For instance, we still have room to lower our required ratio of reserve, and we can still have room to lower our interest rate."

7 tasks will be prioritized for next year's economic development, including pushing for high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, forming a stronger domestic market, speeding up reform of the economic structure, and promoting comprehensive opening up. The meeting also called for a larger scale of tax cuts and reducing administrative fees.

WANG JIANHUI, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER R&D DEPT. CAPITAL SECURITIES "The tax cut not only improves the profitability of these private companies, and will not only be able to increase the funding and financing of these businesses, but also boost the efficiency of the government."

The meeting also pointed out that China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity, adding that the country needs to take chances and speed up transformation of the economic structure, improve capabilities of scientific innovation, and deepen the nation's opening-up and reform.

ZOU YUN BEIJING "China's economy may face big downward pressure in 2019. Yet the government has prepared multiple policies in hand, to deal with challenges, as well as making sure its economy is not only resilient but also robust. ZY, CGTN, BJ."