China will study new policies to support economy: official

BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) — China will study new policies in a timely manner to promote steady growth, structural improvement and sustained development of the economy, an official with the country’s top economic planner said Tuesday.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will closely follow changes of the economic situation, evaluate the effects of policy implementation, and conduct preliminary research on more supportive policies and maintain policy options, said Zheng Shanjie, head of the NDRC, at a press conference.
The remarks came after China’s financial authorities announced a broader-than-expected policy package last month to galvanize the economy’s rebound. These policy measures include reducing the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for banks and mortgage rates for existing homes, as well as introducing new monetary programs to boost the capital market, among other initiatives.
A meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held on Sept. 26 called for stepping up efforts to roll out incremental policies as the country strives to accomplish its annual economic and social development targets.
Elaborating on the implementation of the incremental policies, Zheng said counter-cyclical adjustment in macro policies has been intensified, with RRR and interest rate cuts already in place.
He urged for speeding up fiscal spending to bolster the economy and providing stronger support for local governments to conduct debt replacement and defuse debt risks.
A raft of reform measures conducive to economic development will be rolled out, he said. These reforms include the formation of guidelines on building a unified national market, a new negative list for market access, and mechanisms to ensure increased investment in future industries.
China will expand the catalogue of industries that encourage foreign investment, unveil a new group of major foreign-invested projects and make its visa-free transit policies more open, according to Zheng.
The incremental policies also aim to boost domestic consumption and investment demand, he noted.
The country’s consumer goods trade-in program has been fully activated, with passenger car sales rebounding sharply and electrical home appliance sales returning to growth. Related policies will be further advanced to fuel sustained increases in commodity consumption, Zheng said.
On the investment front, ultra-long special treasury bonds will continue to be issued next year with optimized investment areas to implement major national strategies and build up security capacity in key areas, he noted.
Investment projects worth 200 billion yuan (about 14.14 billion U.S. dollars) that are in next year’s plans will be released in advance this year to support local governments in accelerating the preliminary work and construction, Zheng told reporters.
A certain proportion of these projects will involve urban renewal, mainly in the construction of pipelines for gas, water, sewage and heating, which is expected to generate investment demand of around 4 trillion yuan in the coming five years, said NDRC deputy head Liu Sushe at the press conference.
In addition, more favorable policies are being provided to benefit enterprises, while measures to prop up the real estate and capital markets are being planned or advanced, according to Zheng. ■