China eyes high-quality growth amid downward pressure

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Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president, and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addressed the Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday.

At the country's most important annual meeting on the economy, Xi reviewed the economic work in 2018, analyzed the current economic situation and mapped out plans for 2019. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang also addressed the conference and made specific arrangements for the economic work in the coming year.

In 2019, China will continue to deepen supply-side structural reform as one of the major tasks for realizing high-quality development, said a statement released after the meeting.

The country will adopt tax cuts and fee reductions on a larger scale, said the statement.

Staff members assemble hardware at a production base of server manufacturer Inspur in Jinan, east China's Shandong Province, June 14, 2018. /Xinhua Photo

It outlined seven main tasks for China's economic work in 2019, including promoting high-quality development of the manufacturing industry, fostering a robust domestic market, advancing the rural vitalization strategy, promoting coordinated regional development, accelerating the reform of the economic system, advancing opening-up in a comprehensive way, and improving people's livelihood.

Achievements, problems and opportunities

The Chinese economy maintained a trend of sustained and healthy development in 2018, according to the statement. With major goals in macroeconomic regulation achieved, the country deepened supply-side structural reform as well as reform and opening-up, properly handled trade frictions with the United States, and improved people's livelihood.

The year also witnessed a good start of the "three tough battles," namely, preventing financial risks, reducing poverty and tackling pollution, the statement said.

"While fully acknowledging the achievements, we must see that there are new and worrisome developments amid generally steady economic operation, the external environment is complicated and severe, and the economy faces downward pressure," it noted.

The problems faced by China today has emerged in its course of development, the statement said. Some are short-term problems, and some are long-term ones; some are periodic problems, and some are structural ones, it added, calling for targeted measures to tackle these problems.

China is still in a period of important strategic opportunity for development, which will last a long time, the statement stressed. The world is witnessing changes not seen in a century, bringing important opportunities for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, it said.

The statement urged the country to seize these opportunities to accelerate economic restructuring, improve innovation capabilities in science and technology, deepen reform and opening-up, speed up green development, and take part in the reform of the global economic governance system.

In this way, China will be able to transform its pressure to driving forces that facilitate high-quality economic development, it suggested.

Tourists have fun in a lotus pond at Baojian Village in Donglin Town of Huzhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, July 3, 2018. /Xinhua Photo

Larger-scale tax cuts and fee reductions

China will keep 2019 growth within a reasonable range, laying a decisive foundation for the country to achieve its goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects by 2020, the statement said. It also noted that 2019 will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The country will strengthen counter-cyclical policy adjustments of macro-policies, and maintain its proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy next year, it said.

The proactive fiscal policy should enhance efficiency, implement larger-scale tax cuts and fee reductions, and substantially increase the size of local government special bonds, according to the statement.

The prudent monetary policy should be neither too loose nor too tight, keeping liquidity reasonably ample, and monetary policy transmission mechanism should be improved, the statement said.

The country will deepen reforms in state-owned enterprises, taxation and finance, land, market access and social management to create an institutional environment for fair competition, it added.

China will also stick to supply-side structural reform, and speed up clearing of more overcapacity industries, develop more good-quality enterprises, cultivate new industrial clusters, and improve the financial system's ability to serve the real economy, the statement stressed.

The country will strive to support jobs, trade and investment, and resolve financing difficulties for small and private firms, while curbing risks and financial market volatility, according to the statement.