Chinese economic officials elaborate on policies to boost growth

BEIJING — China’s senior economic officials on Jan 15 elaborated on the country’s policies to ensure sustained and healthy economic development.

Xu Hongcai, assistant minister at the Ministry of Finance, said the country will cut taxes and fees on a larger scale this year.

The government will unveil favorable tax policies to support small and micro businesses and deepen value-added tax reform, Xu told a news conference.

The country will move to lower burdens on the manufacturing sector as well as small and micro companies, moderately expand fiscal expenditure and increase financial input in areas including poverty alleviation, agriculture, technological innovation, environmental protection and efforts to improve people’s livelihoods, Xu said.

Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said the central bank will offer sufficient financial support for the real economy sector, avoid a flood of liquidity and maintain a stable macro-leverage ratio.

Zhu said maintaining the prudent monetary policy does not mean the central bank cannot tweak its policies, which will be fine-tuned to make them more forward-looking, flexible and targeted when changes in the situation arise.

Lian Weiliang, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the country will make investment more targeted and effective and refrain from resorting to massive economic stimulus.

The country will increase investment with a focus on construction and renovation, prioritizing areas including artificial intelligence, industrial internet, Internet of Things, major infrastructure projects and technical transformation and equipment replacement in the manufacturing sector, Lian said at the news conference.