Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) held a news conference on Wednesday to detail the measures that China’s government would take to further develop the country’s economy, following the announcement of a raft of new measures in this year’s government work report. Here are the highlights.
1. Maintaining steady economic progress
China’s economy will maintain its steady momentum of growth and continue to meet the government’s stated targets, and the government will continue to make efforts to improve the environment. China has made strides in fostering a better business environment, with the World Bank’s global rating of the country’s business environment rising from 78 to 46 in 2018.
2. Opening up to foreign investment
China’s government will further open up its agriculture, mining, manufacturing, and service sectors. It will also reduce the number of industry sectors off-limits to foreign investment, and introduce legislation to better protect the rights of investors.
3. Growing the domestic market
China’s 1.4 billion people make a gigantic domestic market for consumer goods. New industries, types of business, and business models have been rapidly developing, accounting for 15.7 percent of China’s GDP last year. The spending power of consumers in China is continuing to grow, and sectors like elderly care, childcare, and home appliances provide massive market opportunities. The NDRC is implementing a raft of measures to boost consumption. The domestic market is expected to continue to expand thanks to these supportive policies and the growing availability of high-quality products and services.
4. Greater Bay Area
The government will take measures to improve the overall innovation capability in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. International science and technology innovation centers will be built between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, and between Macao and Zhuhai. An innovation and technology corridor will also be developed in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Macao region. And the Chinese Academy of Sciences will establish an innovation research institute in Hong Kong.
5. Upgrade consumption
Efforts will be made to ensure stable economic growth and employment, reduce the burdens of taxes and fees, and raise incomes. The government will take steps to encourage purchases of products such as new energy cars and environmental-friendly household appliances. And efforts will be made to give a boost to the services sector, including tourism, healthcare, childcare, and elderly care. The government will focus on promoting consumption by rural residents, facilitating them to get better access to e-commerce services and high-quality products.
6. Cooperation with Belt and Road countries
Substantial progress has been made in building cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road since the initiative was proposed five years ago. To date, 171 Belt and Road cooperation documents have been signed with 29 international organizations and 123 countries.
7. Providing services for the young and the old
The government has vowed to add an additional one million new beds in the country’s elderly care facilities. It has vowed to ensure that all communities have access to kindergarten facilities. And it has released a new policy for improving the standards of community services and providing support to nursing staff.
8. Building social credit systems
China has made substantial progress developing social credit systems in 19 jurisdictions, and nearly four million people have been punished for dishonest behavior. China is also building a review system for scientific research that will allow one member of a scientific study approval panel to call a stop to a project.
9. Targeted investment
China will focus on targeted investments that improve people’s livelihoods and the delivery of urban services in 2019. It will also increase efforts to expand access to private investment.
