Following the closing session of the annual National People's Congress (NPC) session, Premier Li Keqiang held a press conference for the domestic and international press, highlighting China's economic achievements in the past year. It was the tenth and last press conference for Li as a new Premier is expected to succeed him next year.
Employment, education and healthcare are high on the agenda this year so that people’s livelihoods can be continuously improved, according to Premier Li Keqiang. The government will implement fiscal and monetary policies to support employment, as it is not only a matter of livelihood, but also closely related with development, he said. “Only when there is employment, there is income, and life would be promising,” Li said, adding that jobs also create wealth for society. Li noted that in 2020, when China was stricken hard by the Covid-19 epidemic, the central government did not set an exact economic growth target for the year, but gave a clear target of creating at least 9 million new jobs. Finally, more than 11 million new jobs were provided, and the country saw GDP growth of 2.2%. This year, there will be a record increase in new job seekers, some 16 million in all, among them a record high 10.76 million college graduates. Apart from employment, the government will also increase funding for compulsory education and medical insurance to improve rural residents’ access to public services, Li said. Most of the government's funding increase has gone toward compulsory education in rural areas, as the country still has a rural population of 760 million.
China will continue to expand high-level opening-up and work harder to keep the nation an appealing destination for foreign investment, Premier Li Keqiang said. China will maintain the policy of wider openness, no matter how the international environment may change. Li said China’s economy has been deeply integrated into the world economy, with imports and exports in goods contributing to over one-third of China’s GDP. In the past 10 years, China has remained the world’s second-largest import market, and in the past five years, China has remained the world’s largest trader in goods. Li said Chinese industries and consumption are in the process of upgrading. Thus there is tremendous potential and broad space for the growth of all types of investment. China will make the most of the opportunity of RCEP and continue to advance free trade. It will treat state-owned enterprises (SOEs), privately held firms and foreign-invested enterprises as equals and continue to work hard to keep China a popular destination for global foreign investment, Li added.
Despite a slowdown compared with previous years, China’s GDP growth target of around 5.5% points to the nation’s proactive pursuit of economic progress on a high base and necessitates robust support from macro-economic policies, Premier Li Keqiang said. Meeting such an annual GDP growth target means the country will add a nominal output of about CNY9 trillion this year, much larger than the number a decade ago when an even higher growth rate was realized. Achieving this year’s growth target is not easy given emerging downward pressures and rising uncertainties, necessitating macro-economic policy support such as expanded fiscal spending to support tax cuts and refunds, Li said.
Premier Li Keqiang also called for more dialogue and communication between China and the United States, saying that the door opened 50 years ago by the icebreaking visit of then U.S. President Richard Nixon should not be shut again, nor should there be any decoupling. “Getting the China-U.S. relationship right serves the well-being of the people of both countries, and currently there are many global challenges that require their cooperation,” Li said. According to Li, the China-U.S. trade volume exceeded USD750 billion last year, an increase of 30% over the previous year.
Premier Li highlighted a few economic numbers during his press conference:
• 5.5% GDP growth target for 2022, which equals the total output of a medium economy
• CNY200+ billion reduction in the deficit compared to last year; deficit rate lowered to 2.8%
• CNY2 trillion added fiscal expenditure
• 11 million, preferably 13 million, new urban jobs to be created annually
• CNY2.5 trillion in tax cuts and fee reductions
• CNY180 billion of tax refunds for catering, transport, tourism and other sectors
• CNY9.8 trillion of transfer payments from the central to local governments in 2022, up 18%
• 4% or more of GDP to be allocated to education
• 70% of medical costs reimbursable with the percentage to be gradually increased
On the sidelines of the NPC, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a separate press conference that “China-Europe cooperation, going through decades of ups and downs, is deeply rooted in solid public support, extensive common interests and similar strategic needs. Such cooperation enjoys great resilience and potential. It cannot be reversed by any force and will not be affected by any turn of events.” On the Belt and Road cooperation, he said that it “is moving forward with more partners, a stronger foundation and brighter prospects. It surely will create new development opportunities for the post-Covid world. China will work with the international community to continue advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.”
The National People's Congress (NPC) approved Premier Li Keqiang's government work reports after making 92 revisions, taking into account motions and proposals submitted by NPC Deputies and CPPCC Members.
This overview is based on reports by the China Daily and South China Morning Post.
