(Fighting against New Coronary Pneumonia) Records of the "epidemic" war: Liu Shijin: Building a metropolitan area to unleash the structural potential of China's economy
China News Agency, Beijing, April 4th (Li Hanxue) With China's new coronary pneumonia epidemic situation under control, the resumption of special trains around the country has left, and restoring economic order has become a new major test. In this regard, Liu Shijin, deputy chairman of the China Development Research Foundation and deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said that short-term economic policies should focus on "recovery", "rescue" and "safety avoidance"; Potential, speeding up the construction of the metropolitan area is an inevitable option.
In an exclusive interview with a reporter from China News Service, Liu Shijin pointed out that "recovery" means restoring the industrial cycle and economic order interrupted by the epidemic. "Relief" is to help businesses and individuals in difficult circumstances, with emphasis on small and medium-sized enterprises and low-income people. "Hedging" is the risk that may arise from structural conflicts that exist in the economy. The most urgent task is to restore the normal industrial cycle and economic order as soon as possible, with the focus on turning the service industry that has been hit the most.
Liu Shijin Jianyan said that monetary policy should focus on two goals, one is to maintain sufficient liquidity for economic operation, and the other is to appropriately reduce financing costs. Recently, the central bank has taken many effective measures, and there is still much room for policy next, which is very different from Western countries. Fiscal policy should be devoted to bail-out and reduce the fixed costs of SMEs through tax relief. For groups affected by the epidemic, and low-income groups, monetary subsidies can be directly issued.
He emphasized that the traditional method of coping with the economic downturn by increasing investment in infrastructure construction in the past was not very targeted for "recovery" and "rescue". And by increasing debt to carry out infrastructure construction, it will also increase the existing debt risk of local governments, not "avoiding risks."
However, Liu Shijin said that the "new infrastructure" that has been hot recently has prospects. However, it must be clear that the main body of the "new infrastructure" is digital infrastructure such as 5G applications and electric vehicle charging piles. It is a new industry driven by new technologies. The investment is mainly determined by the enterprises themselves. Policy tools. The government should create a good development environment.
"When the economy encounters difficulties, it comes to stimulus policies. Is there a more reasonable and effective way?" Liu Shijin said that since China is in a period of important strategic opportunities, it should adjust its thinking and focus on unleashing structural potential.
He said that after China enters a period of medium-speed growth, the content of structural potential will change greatly. From a spatial perspective, the greatest structural potential in the next five to ten years is the accelerated development of metropolitan areas and urban agglomerations.
He pointed out that the outstanding feature of the urbanization process in recent years is the concentration of population in first-tier cities, major economic circles, and several central cities in the interior. With the increase in population density in urban core areas, the increase in negative externalities in cities such as high housing prices, congestion, pollution, and a decline in the quality of the living environment, the actual quality of life perception of residents is not commensurate with the increase in income and consumption levels.
"Obviously, we are facing a conflict between continuously advancing the urbanization process, improving the efficiency of resource allocation in the entire society, and the structural contradictions of existing cities." Liu Shijin believes that in this conflict, accelerating the construction of the metropolitan area is an inevitable option. He explained that the construction of a metropolitan area, in a nutshell, is the development of a group of small towns or several small cities within a range of about 50-70 kilometers around an hour's commuter circle or existing core cities, and connected to each other to form a new urban network system .
Liu Shijin believes that the construction of these small cities and towns will generate considerable demand growth space in residential housing, public infrastructure, rail transportation, manufacturing, etc. At the same time, it is conducive to the adjustment of industrial structure and changes in population layout. In the context of technological progress and green development, from urban planning, energy, transportation, and construction to the development of various industries, green development concepts, technologies, processes, materials, equipment, and methods can be adopted. He said that in this round of metropolitan development, it is entirely possible not to repeat the old path of developed countries, but to embark on a new path of green development with Chinese characteristics and characteristics of the times. (Finish)