CPC stresses need to keep economy stable

Coordination of growth and pandemic response highlighted by leadership

A key Party meeting has underlined the need to ensure economic stability and coordination of the nation's COVID-19 response and economic growth, reiterating that the country will actively respond to the concerns of foreign businesses to stabilize foreign investment and international trade.

The meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, on Friday, also warned against major risks in China's economy, and vowed to take effective steps to manage and control potential risks to ensure the healthy and stable development of the housing and capital markets and the platform economy.

The meeting came as the Chinese economy is encountering downward pressure due to the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis. It followed the meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs on Tuesday, during which the Party pledged to comprehensively bolster the country's infrastructure construction to spur domestic consumption and promote high-quality development.

During Friday's meeting, the participants pointed out that the pandemic and the Ukraine crisis have resulted in mounting risks and challenges, which have made China's economy face a more complex, grave and uncertain environment, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

Noting that the efforts to stabilize economic growth, employment and commodity prices face new challenges, the meeting's participants said it is critically important to ensure the sound operation of economic activities and take substantial measures to improve people's well-being.

The meeting's participants stressed that, as required by the CPC Central Committee, the pandemic must be controlled, the economy must be stabilized and development must be secure.

They urged efforts to efficiently coordinate the pandemic response and socioeconomic development and emphasized the need to stick to the dynamic zero-COVID strategy in order to protect people's lives, safety and health, and minimize the impact of the pandemic on socioeconomic development.

The meeting's participants called for stronger macroeconomic policy adjustment to stabilize the economy and keep it running within an appropriate range.

Efforts should be made to step up the implementation of the existing policy incentives, including cutting taxes and fees, and monetary policy tools should be well utilized, they said.

All-around efforts should be made to expand domestic demand, the crucial role of effective investment should be leveraged, infrastructure construction should be comprehensively bolstered, and measures should be taken to allow consumption to spur economic development, they added.

The meeting's participants stressed the importance of stabilizing market entities, and called for a package of measures and policy incentives to help businesses severely impacted by the pandemic, as well as micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and individual businesses, cope with their problems and difficulties.

While highlighting the need to ensure the supply and price stability of energy resources, the meeting's participants called for ensuring the supply of daily necessities and increasing employment to uphold social stability.

Transportation and logistics services must be facilitated nationwide to ensure the normal operation of important industrial and supply chains, enterprises involved in the supply of anti-pandemic materials and key infrastructure, they added.

The meeting's participants also called for effective measures to manage and control the major risks in the Chinese economy in order to avoid systemic risks. They reiterated that houses are for living in, not for speculation, and expressed support for local governments in improving housing policies based on local conditions in order to promote the stable and healthy development of the nation's real estate market.

They underlined the need to respond to market concerns in a timely manner, steadily advance the reform of the stock issuance registration system and actively introduce long-term investors to maintain the stability of nation's capital market.

Efforts should be made to boost the healthy growth of the platform economy by implementing the regular oversight of businesses and drawing up specific supportive measures, the meeting's participants said.

While highlighting the importance of adhering to and expanding high-level opening-up, the meeting's participants also stressed the need to step up the building of the new development paradigm, deepen supply-side structural reform, and speed up realizing the nation's self-sufficiency and independence in the scientific and technological sector to build a strong and resilient Chinese economy.

The meeting also reviewed a plan for talent development during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25).