Two sessions and press conferences
This year's work report sets the expected target of economic growth at about 5%, how to achieve this goal? What policies will be adopted?
On March 6, the Second Session of the 14th National People's Congress held a press conference on economic themes, and five "top leaders" of economic departments appeared together to interpret the policy trend: Zheng Shajie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, Lan Foan, minister of finance, Wang Wentao, minister of commerce, Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People's Bank of China, and Wu Qing, chairman of the China Supervision and Administration Commission. It is worth noting that this is also the first appearance of Wu Qing, who has been in the new CSRC for one month.
Nandu reporters noticed that the whole press conference lasted for two and a half hours, and they answered 17 hot questions from Chinese and foreign reporters in the fields of development and reform, financial budget, business, and finance.
Zheng Shajie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission.
Zheng Shajie, director of the national government:
With the issuance of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, we are stepping up efforts to formulate and form a concrete action plan
Zheng Shajie said that this year's target of about 5% as China's economic growth is the first to take into account the current and long-term, needs and possibilities on the basis of comprehensive balance, and it is scientifically demonstrated. This target is in line with the annual requirements of the 14th Five-Year Plan, basically matches the potential of economic growth, and is a positive and achievable goal.
He pointed out that the first quarter is expected to achieve a good start in the first two months. He also said frankly that there are many outstanding problems and hidden risks, but these are "all problems in the process of progress, and they can be solved in the course of development." ”
On the issue of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, which has attracted much attention, Zheng Shajie said that this is a major policy measure, and expanding effective investment is an important starting point. Starting from this year, the next few years will continue to issue ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, which will be used for the implementation of major national strategies and security capacity building in key areas.
From the perspective of the main investment directions, the preliminary consideration will focus on supporting the construction of scientific and technological innovation, urban-rural integrated development, regional coordinated development, food and energy security, and high-quality population development. The potential construction needs in these areas are huge, the investment cycle is long, and the existing funding channels are difficult to fully meet the requirements, so it is urgent to increase support. He revealed that the state is stepping up the formulation of a specific action plan, and the implementation will be launched after submitting it for approval according to the procedures.
On the issue of promoting urbanization, Zheng Shajie said that the urbanization rate of permanent residents has increased to 66 last year16%, there is still a lot of potential in the central and western regions; There is still a big gap between the urbanization rate of the registered population and the permanent population, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in China's overall urbanization rate. To this end, China will further implement the new urbanization strategy and continue to release the huge potential of domestic demand. This year, there are four key tasks to be promoted, including accelerating the urbanization of the rural transfer population, promoting new industrialization and urbanization, cultivating and building a modern metropolitan area, and improving the level of urban safety and resilience.
He pointed out that the reform of the household registration system will be deepened, and the requirements for settlement restrictions in cities with a permanent population of less than 3 million in urban areas will be abolished, and restrictions on settlement will be relaxed except for a few megacities. Emphasis should be placed on solving the problems of education, housing security, and social insurance for the children of the rural migrant population, and promoting the equalization of basic public services for the permanent population.
Minister of Finance Lan Foan.
Minister of Finance Lan Foan.
If the party and government organs spend less money, they can arrange more money for the people's livelihood undertakings
This year's work report makes arrangements for the implementation of a proactive fiscal policy. Lan Foan introduced that moderate afterburner, quality and efficiency improvement are the keynote and characteristics of this year's fiscal policy.
Moderate afterburner includes three aspects: First, the intensity of fiscal expenditure has been expanded overall. This year's deficit rate is arranged at 3%, and the size of the deficit reaches 406 trillion yuan. The expenditure of the general public budget in the country reached 285 trillion yuan, an increase of more than 1 trillion yuan over the previous year, and strengthened the financial guarantee for major national strategic tasks.
Second, there has been a significant increase in the size of bonds. 3. New local ** special bonds9 trillion yuan, and the new issuance of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds of 1 trillion yuan, these two items add up to 49 trillion yuan. In addition, most of the additional 1 trillion yuan of treasury bonds issued in the fourth quarter of 2023 will be used this year. These are all real and high-quality expenditures, which can drive and expand effective social investment.
Third, we will continue to implement structural tax and fee reduction policies. On the basis of implementing the preferential tax policies extended and optimized last year, this year will study and introduce structural tax and fee reduction policies, focusing on supporting scientific and technological innovation and the development of the manufacturing industry.
To improve quality and efficiency, the main thing is to optimize fiscal management, strengthen policy coordination, and improve the quality and efficiency of fiscal policies. Including insisting on tapping potential internally and seeking efficiency from management. Implement the requirements of living a tight life, optimize the structure of fiscal expenditure, and spend every penny on the cutting edge. Strengthen budget performance management. We should strictly enforce financial and economic discipline and resolutely prevent financial funds from "leaking and leaking."
This year's ** work report further proposes that "all levels should get used to living a tight life", does it mean that ** should hold their wallets tightly and not spend money? In this regard, Lan Foan responded that if the party and government organs spend less money, they can arrange more money for people's livelihood undertakings. Of course, the party and government organs live a tight life, not by holding their wallets tightly and not spending money, but by spending what they should spend and the province of the province where they should be, so that they can be "generous with big money and stingy with small money" and concentrate financial resources to do big things. This mainly includes efforts to reduce administrative operating costs and increase people's livelihood protection; Rationally arrange departmental expenditures and increase transfer payments to local governments; Strictly control general expenditures to ensure the implementation of major national strategic tasks.
Regarding the issue of local debt, Lan Foan said that through the concerted efforts of all parties, the risk of local debt has been alleviated as a whole. The payment of principal and interest of local ** statutory debts is effectively guaranteed, and the scale of implicit debts is gradually decreasing; **Positive progress has been made in the settlement of arrears of enterprises, and the number of local financing platforms has decreased. On the whole, at present, the risk of local debt in China is generally controllable. In the next step, the Ministry of Finance will strengthen the management of local ** statutory debts, further promote the implementation of the package of debt schemes, strictly supervise and hold accountable the problem of illegal debt borrowing, and strive to build a long-term mechanism to prevent and resolve hidden debt risks.
Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce.
Wang Wentao, Minister of Commerce.
Focus on promoting the trade-in of consumer goods such as automobiles, home appliances, home decoration, kitchen and bathroom
Talking about how to expand consumption and stimulate potential consumption, Wang Wentao said that the two key tasks this year are to promote the trade-in of consumer goods such as automobiles, home appliances, home decoration, kitchen and bathroom, and the other is to boost service consumption.
He introduced that China's automobile, home appliances, home improvement market complex volume, a considerable part of the product service life is long, energy consumption emissions are high, some because of long-term use, there are certain safety hazards. It should be said that the potential renewal demand has entered a period of concentrated release. Promoting the trade-in of consumer goods is not only a powerful measure to enhance the current economic growth momentum and consolidate the recovery, but also a long-term strategy to promote high-quality development.
Wang Wentao emphasized that the trade-in should be based on the voluntary basis of consumers. The overall idea is to adhere to the market-oriented, through policy support and guidance, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties, and form an effective mechanism of "it is easier to remove the old and more willing to replace the new".
Recently, China has made arrangements for large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods. Zheng Shajie introduced that this is a major benefit. The demand for equipment renewal in key areas such as industry and agriculture will continue to expand, and it is initially estimated that it will be a huge market with an annual scale of more than 5 trillion yuan. In terms of durable consumer goods, the upgrading of automobiles and home appliances can also create a trillion-scale market space.
In terms of expanding service consumption, Wang Wentao pointed out that its space and potential are huge in the future. The Ministry of Commerce will focus on promoting service consumption, including expanding the opening up of the service sector and enriching the supply of service consumption. Promote the relaxation of market access in service industries such as telecommunications and medical care. Build a platform carrier to innovate service consumption scenarios. Promote the integrated development of business, tourism, culture, sports and health and other business formats.
Talking about the foreign trade situation, Wang Wentao said frankly that it is still in a very grim situation, but he has also seen some good signs. In view of difficulties and uncertainties, the policy should be forward, and the stabilization of foreign trade should be mainly increased from the aspects of financial services, promotion, and personnel exchanges. In the medium and long term, the key is to cultivate new momentum for foreign trade and promote the high-quality development of foreign trade, focusing on expanding intermediate goods, promoting cross-border e-commerce exports, improving the level of digitalization, and promoting green development.
Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China.
Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People's Bank of China.
There is still room for RRR cuts in the future, and a moderate rebound will be taken as a policy consideration
Since the beginning of this year, the RRR cut and the downward trend in loan interest rates have exceeded market expectations. In the next stage, how will monetary policy support the economic recovery? Pan Gongsheng responded that China's monetary policy toolbox is still abundant, and there is still enough room for monetary policy.
The main considerations are: First, to maintain a reasonable growth in the aggregate. He revealed that at present, the average deposit reserve ratio of the entire Chinese banking industry is 7%, and there is still room for subsequent RRR cuts. We will make comprehensive use of a variety of monetary policy tools, intensify counter-cyclical adjustments, maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity, and support the steady growth and balanced allocation of social financing and total monetary credit.
Second, we will continue to promote the steady decline in the cost of comprehensive social financing. The central bank will take maintaining stability and promoting a moderate rebound as an important consideration of monetary policy, take into account the health of the balance sheet of the banking industry, and continue to promote the steady decline of comprehensive social financing costs.
Third, we should pay more attention to improving efficiency in terms of structure. We will set up re-loans for scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation, continue to implement re-loans to support carbon emission reduction, restrict the financing supply of industries with excess capacity, and meet the financing needs of reasonable consumption in a more targeted manner.
Fourth, the exchange rate will remain basically stable at a reasonable and equilibrium level. He pointed out that the monetary policy of major economies is expected to turn this year, and the momentum of the dollar index has weakened. The difference between domestic and foreign monetary policy cycles tends to converge.
Wu Qing, Chairman of the Supervision and Administration Committee of China.
Wu Qing, Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission
Protecting the rights and interests of investors is the most important task, and corporate IPOs will be strictly controlledListing Portal
Regarding the supervision of the capital market, Wu Qing said that regulators should pay special attention to the issue of fairness and regard openness, fairness and justice as the most important principle. This is especially true in a market like ours, where small and medium-sized investors are overwhelmingly large. Therefore, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of investors, especially small and medium-sized investors, is the most important central task of the CSRC.
In the next step, we will firmly grasp the main line of strengthening supervision, preventing risks, and promoting development, adhere to the direction of marketization and rule of law, respect laws and rules, and further promote the high-quality development of the capital market. From the perspective of supervision, the focus is to highlight two words, one is strong and the other is strict. "We will keep our eyes open, strengthen early correction of problem institutions and enterprises, deal with all kinds of risks as soon as possible, crack down on all kinds of violations of laws and regulations, and focus on cracking down on major violations of laws and regulations in key areas. In particular, some illegal acts that touch the bottom line, such as counterfeiting and fraud, market manipulation, insider trading, etc., must be severely cracked down. He said.
On the issue of improving the quality of listed companies, Wu Qing said that the China Securities Regulatory Commission will strictly control the entrance, and the IPO listing of enterprises must not be for the purpose of "collecting money", let alone fake and fraudulent listings. Make every effort to keep counterfeiters out of the capital market. Second, strengthen post-market supervision. For some "technical" divorce, securities lending and selling, refinancing and other detours and violations, it is necessary to further plug the loopholes in the system. For major shareholders, actual controllers and other violations, it is necessary to crack down on them in accordance with the law.
Nandu National *** Group.
Written by: Nandu reporter Chen Qiuyuan from Beijing.