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Editor’s note: Dong Shaopeng is executive deputy editor-in-chief of the Securities Daily. The article reflects the author’s opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN. The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee met on Thursday to study the current economic situation and deploy the economic work in the second half of the year.
The Political Bureau required the need to “maintaining strategic focus and running China’s own affairs”, reiterating that “the pandemic should be prevented, the economy should be stabilized and development should be safe.” That not only clarified the idea of coping with current challenges and winning development opportunities, but also reserved strategic and policy space for long-term development, reflecting the policy tone of pragmatism, sustainability and innovation.
First, it explains more the relationship between pandemic prevention and control and economic and social development. The April 29 meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee proposed that “the COVID-19 prevention and control and economic and social development should be effectively coordinated.” The meeting also proposed that “the pandemic should be prevented, the economy should be stabilized, and development should be safe”, to make overall arrangements for work with systematic thinking. The meeting reiterated the above requirements and emphasized the need to take a comprehensive, systematic and long-term view.
At present, we must adhere to efficient overall planning, not only to prevent the pandemic, but also to ensure the effective operation of the key functions of economic and social development. In particular, we should ensure the overall security and stability of the industrial and supply chains and such basic needs as food, clothing, housing and transportation, while keeping employment generally stable. Only by holding the “bottom” of the orderly operation of the economy and society can we effectively promote economic growth, improve the quality of development, and comprehensively promote the expansion of Chinese modernization.
Second, we have clarified the priorities and main tasks of stabilizing economic growth. The meeting called on fiscal and monetary policies to effectively make up for the lack of social demand. Therefore, we should make good use of the special bond funds of local governments, moderately speed up the progress of major construction projects, and form more physical workloads on the basis of ensuring quality. Monetary policy should ensure reasonable and sufficient liquidity, and increase credit support for scientific and technological research and development, manufacturing, logistics and transportation, catering and tourism. We should use diversified monetary policy tools, increase support for industries and enterprises that are greatly affected by the pandemic, and further improve the pertinence and foresight of inclusive finance, so as to meet the urgent needs of small, medium and micro enterprises. Policy oriented financial institutions should play a greater role in supporting infrastructure and major livelihood projects.
China has the market and institutional foundation to stabilize the industrial and supply chains. It is necessary to further strengthen the internal and external coordination, open up the blocking points of enterprises in research and development, production, circulation, payment and settlement. It is also necessary to promote process optimization and use digital and information technology to ensure smooth flow and improve efficiency. We should improve measures to effectively integrate pandemic prevention with stabilizing the supply and industrial chains, and improve the activity of capital flow, logistics and people flow while ensuring COVID-19 prevention and control. We should give full play to the advantages of e-commerce and platform enterprises, improve the infrastructure and business environment in the central and western regions, and promote the effective growth of consumption and investment demand in the central and western regions.
To do a good job in the second half of the year, major economic provinces should bravely take the lead, and provinces with conditions should strive to achieve the expected goals of economic and social development. We should give full play to the role of state-owned enterprises as the main force, continue to implement the Three-year Action Plan for the reform of state-owned enterprises. We should also support private and foreign-funded enterprises to compete equally and develop together, and build a good industrial ecosystem for the financing and development of large, medium and small enterprises. We should promote the healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy. The platform economy has the characteristics of a wide service chain, involving many industrial levels, intensive capital flow and information flow, and strong demand for innovation. But it also has the problem of disorderly capital expansion. Therefore, on the basis of the preliminary work, we should complete the special rectification of the platform economy, implement regular supervision and launch a batch of “green light” investment cases, so that the platform economy can show a fair, inclusive, safe and orderly style, and integrate and develop with all market players.
Opening-up and reform are constant themes. We should make overall plans for domestic and foreign affairs, actively promote exports and expand imports. We will further improve the domestic business environment, draw international capital to invest and do business in China, and attract owners of advanced technologies to expand the market and share the benefits in China. We will promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative and promote high-level interaction between domestic and international circulation.
Third, we have further clarified the key issues of maintaining the bottom line of development security. The meeting required that the bottom line of security be maintained in an all-round way, and emphasized food security and energy and resource supply security. At present, China’s grain production and reserves are generally sufficient. Domestic resources and energy development, production and reserve capacity also have been significantly enhanced. At the same time, China’s energy and resources import channels are diversified and generally stable, and the domestic new energy industry has achieved considerable development. We should further intensify efforts to plan and build a new energy supply and consumption system and enhance the ability to ensure energy security. In the two fields of real estate and finance, it is also necessary to further enhance the overall safety awareness. We should stabilize the real estate market, support will be offered to meet the rigid and upgraded demand for housing, and consolidate the responsibilities of local governments to ensure the delivery of buildings and stabilize people’s livelihoods. We should also properly resolve the risks of some local rural banks and severely crack down on financial crimes.
In the first half of this year, China’s economic growth was 2.5 percent, which was the result of concerted efforts from all levels and was not easy to achieve. On June 30, China’s manufacturing PMI released by the National Bureau of Statistics reached 50.2, while the non-manufacturing index stood at 54.7. Both were up from May. We should, in accordance with the deployment of the Party Central Committee, effectively coordinate the work of pandemic prevention and control and economic and social development. We should also actively make progress, overcome difficulties, and further consolidate the positive trend of economic recovery.