China News Service, Beijing, December 12 (Xinhua) -- The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee will study the economic work in 8 and send three major signals
China News Service reporter Wang Enbo
The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held a meeting on December 12 to analyze and study the economic work in 8 and send three major signals about China's economy.
Summing up 2023: China's economy is picking up
This year is a year of economic recovery and development after three years of prevention and control of the new crown epidemic, and how China's economy can withstand external pressure and overcome internal difficulties has attracted the attention of all parties.
The meeting gave an authoritative judgment on the situation in 2023, believing that China "focuses on expanding domestic demand, optimizing the structure, boosting confidence, preventing and defusing risks", and the economy is "rebounding for the better".
Statistics can support this. In the first three quarters, China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.2% year-on-year, maintaining a leading growth rate among the world's major economies. According to the chief representative of the International Monetary Fund in China, China remains the largest engine of global economic growth, accounting for one-third of global growth.
Niu Li, deputy director of the Economic Forecasting Department of the State Information Center, said that driven by factors such as the combination of stable growth policies, China's economy has rebounded for the better, especially since August, the marginal improvement of domestic supply and demand at both ends is expected to achieve "post-stability" on the basis of "pre-low, medium-high" and complete this year's economic and social development goals.
There is also good news for some key tasks and tasks. The meeting pointed out that in 2023, China will "make solid progress in high-quality development and make important progress in the construction of a modern industrial system". At the same time, China has "achieved new breakthroughs in scientific and technological innovation, deepened reform and opening up, consolidated the foundation for safe development, effectively guaranteed people's livelihood, and made solid steps to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way".
Set the tone for 2024: seek progress in stability, promote stability with progress, and establish first and then break
For the economic work in 2024, this meeting continued the general tone of "seeking progress while maintaining stability" for many years, and at the same time "promoting stability with progress, establishing first and then breaking". This line of thinking will also run through next year's policy.
"Strengthen the counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustment of macroeconomic policies, and continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy", highlighting the characteristics of continuity, stability and sustainability. "The active fiscal policy should be moderately strengthened, improve quality and efficiency, and the prudent monetary policy should be flexible, moderate, precise and effective", which means that macroeconomic regulation and control will be more refined and pragmatic, and efforts will be made to respond to the situation.
In fact, since the beginning of this year, China has frequently opened its toolbox and launched a number of pragmatic and effective policy measures, from the issuance of additional 1 trillion yuan of special treasury bonds, to the reduction of the statutory reserve requirement ratio, to the halving of stamp duty on securities transactions. In an interview with reporters, the person in charge of the National Economic Comprehensive Department of the National Development and Reform Commission stressed that China's macroeconomic regulation and control system has been more perfect, the policy reserve tools have been continuously enriched, and the experience of macroeconomic regulation and control in coping with domestic and foreign risks and challenges has been accumulated, and there is still a lot of room for macroeconomic policies.
It is worth mentioning that the meeting also proposed to "enhance the consistency of macro policy orientation", which means that next year's policies in different fields will pay more attention to the same direction, and help the economy rebound with a "combination of punches".
Deploy key tasks: focus on hot spots and put forward "high" requirements
In addition to clarifying the tone of the work, the meeting also made arrangements around a number of hot issues in the current Chinese economy.
At present, there is still great uncertainty in the external environment, and maintaining the safe, stable and smooth flow of industrial and supply chains is an important support for high-quality economic development. The meeting proposed to lead the construction of a modern industrial system with scientific and technological innovation, and improve the resilience and safety of the industrial chain and supply chain.
As an important leading indicator for observing the operation of the national economy, China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) has fallen recently, reflecting the constraints of insufficient domestic demand. The meeting said that efforts should be made to expand domestic demand and form a virtuous circle in which consumption and investment promote each other.
The meeting also put forward a number of "high" requirements: "to deepen the reform of key areas and continue to inject strong impetus into high-quality development", "to expand high-level opening up, and consolidate the basic market of foreign trade and foreign investment". At the same time, it reminded that "we must continue to effectively prevent and resolve risks in key areas, and resolutely adhere to the bottom line of no systemic risks".
According to the usual practice, the Central Economic Work Conference will also be held. In 2024, the answer will be clearer on how China's economic giant will continue to cut through the waves. (ENDS)