Chinese authorities formulated the key economic policy for the second half of this year, stressing the need to bolster the efficiency of the proactive fiscal policy and support the sustained recovery of smaller firms and struggling sectors with sufficient liquidity. The nation will maintain its macro policies and keep major economic indicators within a proper range, according to a statement released after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Xi Jinping, the nation's President and CPC General Secretary, presided over the meeting. The tone-setting meeting came after China’s economy expanded 12.7% year-on-year in the first half of 2021, with the nation’s GDP up by 7.9% year-on-year in the second quarter.
The meeting highlighted an increasingly complex and challenging external environment, with the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to evolve and the domestic recovery remaining unsteady and unbalanced. The meeting reiterated the importance of acting on the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, faithfully and comprehensively carrying out the new development philosophy, deepening supply-side structural reform and accelerating the new development paradigm.
The meeting pledged to maintain the exchange rate of the yuan at a reasonable level and to ensure the stability of the supply and prices of bulk commodities. Policymakers pledged to accelerate the growth in new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and step up the development of rural e-commerce and logistics delivery systems. Fundamental research should be strengthened, they said. A special action plan will be released on industry and supply chains, with quicker measures to resolve bottlenecks, they added. China will continue to pursue high-level opening-up and make steadfast efforts to promote the high-quality building of the Belt and Road. The meeting urged a faster rollout of an action plan to achieve peak carbon emissions by 2030, with measures to curb the blind development of projects with high levels of emissions and energy consumption.
To overcome risks in key sectors, policymakers stressed the need to evaluate risks and to improve the oversight of businesses going public overseas. For the real estate sector, they reiterated the policy that housing is for living in, not for speculation, saying that land prices, real estate prices and market expectations must be stabilized and the development of rental housing, coupled with supportive policies in terms of land use and taxation, must be accelerated. The meeting underlined the necessity to help college graduates and rural migrant workers find jobs. Employment security for workers on flexible payrolls must be improved. Supportive policies to carry out the third-child policy will also be implemented. The nation must ensure the prevention and control of the Covid-19 pandemic without any complacency, and continue to move forward with vaccination efforts, they added, as reported by the China Daily.
