(Economic Observation) New infrastructure accelerates China's efforts to invest and stabilize industry

　　China News Agency, Beijing, February 18 (Reporter Liu Yuying) This week's State Council executive meeting made arrangements for the steady growth of the industry, of which new infrastructure investment will become the growth engine.

　　In 2021, China's industry will continue to recover. Driven by external demand, it will give full play to the advantages of the industrial chain and supply chain. The added value of the national industry above designated size will increase by 9.6% year-on-year, and the average two-year growth rate will be 6.1%.

　　However, it cannot be ignored that the industrial growth rate once declined in the third quarter of last year. In the fourth quarter, with the implementation of policies and measures to revive the industrial economy, the effect became apparent, the downward trend was reversed, the growth rate of the industrial economy gradually recovered, and the PMI index returned to prosperity in November. above the dry line.

　　The State Council executive meeting pointed out that "the current situation of stable recovery of the industrial economy is still not solid".

　　Regarding the "stable recovery of the industrial economy is still not solid," Luo Junjie, director of the Operational Monitoring and Coordination Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, previously said that at present, especially in the global epidemic situation, there are still great variables, and economic and trade growth momentum has weakened. Domestic supply constraints still exist, consumption and investment demand are still weak, and small and medium-sized enterprises are also facing many difficulties and challenges in their production and operation. Combined with the recent spread of the epidemic and the base effect, the industrial economy is still facing a major downturn in the first quarter of this year. pressure.

　　In 2021, China's exports will be 21.73 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 21.2%, exceeding expectations.

Han Jianfei, deputy director of the Institute of Industrial Economics of CCID Research Institute, believes that the new crown epidemic is still repeated, the US dollar has entered a cycle of interest rate hikes, commodity prices are running high, and the geopolitical situation is tense. Whether external demand can continue to be so strong in 2022 is at risk.

　　Facing 2022, Li Keaobo, executive vice president of the China Institute of Economic Thought and Practice at Tsinghua University, believes that manufacturing investment will perform well in 2021, with an increase of 13.5%, indicating that the confidence of private enterprises is recovering, but infrastructure investment is hovering at a low level, etc. Factors have dragged down the overall investment, and infrastructure investment should be accelerated in 2022.

　　The State Council executive meeting on the 15th clearly stated that it is necessary to speed up the construction of new infrastructure.

Sheng Songcheng, former director of the Investigation and Statistics Department of the People's Bank of China, wrote in an article that compared with traditional infrastructure, new infrastructure has a greater pulling effect on upstream and downstream and related industrial chains. As the proportion of new infrastructure in infrastructure investment gradually increases, it will Through the linkage effect of upstream and downstream, it will further drive investment in new manufacturing and emerging service industries.

　　At present, the most mentioned in each province is the infrastructure related to the digital economy.

For example, in 5G infrastructure, many provinces have clearly mentioned policy plans for the development of 5G-related infrastructure.

In 2021, Chinese operators will invest more than 180 billion yuan in 5G, and it is expected that the investment will not decrease in 2022.

　　In addition, data centers, industrial Internet, and the Internet of Things are also the main starting points for new infrastructure.

The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology predicts that from 2021 to 2023, the investment in the data center industry may reach 1.4 trillion yuan.

　　Han Jianfei said that new infrastructure construction in many provinces mainly focuses on 5G, data centers and other information infrastructure fields, mainly because information infrastructure can not only drive the growth of industries such as electronic information and software, but also drive the digital transformation of other industries and serve services. industry, manufacturing, etc., to create new value.

　　Major projects of ministries and commissions are also in full swing.

On February 17, China officially launched the "East Digital and Western Computing" project. The "East Digital and Western Computing" project has a long industrial chain, large investment scale, and strong driving effect.

According to estimates, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, more than 400 billion yuan of related investment will be added every year.

　　The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has also previously stated that it will speed up the implementation of the national "14th Five-Year Plan" and the "14th Five-Year Plan" in the fields of industry and information technology.

　　In addition to new infrastructure, traditional infrastructure such as high-speed rail, roads, airports, water conservancy, and public facilities are also being implemented at an accelerated pace.

　　On February 14, the Ministry of Finance issued a new local government debt limit of 1,788 billion yuan in 2022 in advance, of which the general debt limit was 328 billion yuan and the special debt limit was 1,460 billion yuan.

Experts pointed out that the concentrated investment of local government bonds in infrastructure-related fields will effectively promote investment growth, thus playing a role in expanding domestic demand and stabilizing growth.

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