Adhere to the main line of supply-side structural reform and lay a good job in ＂three tough battles＂ —— The second interpretation of the 2018 Central Economic Work Conference series
2018 is destined to be an extraordinary year in China’s development process.
In the first year of fully implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in the face of the complicated and severe external environment and the internal pressure of economic downturn, China’s macro-control objectives were well accomplished, the three major battles started well, and the supply-side structural reform was further promoted.
How to turn crisis into opportunity and turn crisis into safety when the economic operation is changing steadily and worrying? The just-concluded Central Economic Work Conference emphasized that we must unswervingly adhere to the supply-side structural reform as the main line and fight three key battles against outstanding problems.
Face up to difficulties and persist in taking supply-side structural reform as the main line.
From January to September, the steel enterprises of China Steel Association achieved a profit of 229.963 billion yuan, an increase of 86.01% year-on-year, setting the best performance in history.
"This is due to the supply-side structural reform." Liu Zhenjiang, secretary general of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, said.
To do a good job in economic work, we must focus on the main contradictions.
The Central Economic Work Conference made a clear judgment: the main contradiction of China’s economic operation is still supply-side structural, and we must persist in taking supply-side structural reform as the main line, adopt more reform methods, and make more use of marketization and rule of law to work hard on the words "consolidate, strengthen, upgrade and smooth".
In April this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other six departments jointly issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in Resolving Excess Capacity in Key Areas in 2018", which made it clear that this year we should continue to carry out in-depth steel de-capacity, continuously improve the quality of coal supply system, actively and steadily resolve the excess capacity of coal-fired power, and strive to achieve the goal of further reducing the steel production capacity by about 30 million tons, withdrawing from coal production capacity by about 150 million tons, and eliminating coal-fired power units below 300,000 kilowatts that fail to meet the standards.
Various regions and departments have successively introduced a number of new measures, such as continuing to deepen the reform of value-added tax, reducing the rate of value-added tax in manufacturing and other industries, and introducing a series of tax reduction measures to support entrepreneurial innovation and the development of small and micro enterprises.
"China’s economy has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development stage. Further improving the understanding of supply-side structural reforms is of great significance for accelerating the construction of a modern economic system and promoting high-quality economic development." Gao Guoli, a researcher at China Macroeconomic Research Institute, said.
Cross the barrier and continue to fight three tough battles against outstanding problems.
A few days ago, ten counties (cities) in Henan Province were notified by the Office of the Leading Group for Fighting against Pollution, because the air pollution index remained high and fell behind many times in the ranking of the whole province.
Winning the three major battles is the key point that must be crossed to build a well-off society in an all-round way. The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized that this year’s three major battles were successful in the first battle, and next year, we should focus on outstanding problems and lay a good job in key battles.
Focus on resolving major risks — —
In early November, the China Financial Stability Report (2018) issued by the People’s Bank of China held that the current financial risks have generally converged and the financial chaos has been preliminarily controlled. Looking forward to 2019, the basic situation of China’s large economy, large market and strong resilience has not changed, the institutional risks will be gradually managed and resolved smoothly, and the foundation for stable financial operation will be more stable.
"A series of measures to prevent and resolve financial risks since 2017 have achieved remarkable results. Overall, China’s economic and financial risks are controllable and there will be no systemic risks. " Zhou Xuedong, director of the General Office of the People’s Bank of China and director of the Financial Stability Board, said.
Get rid of poverty and attack hard — —
Central planning, overall responsibility of the province, implementation by cities and counties, establishment of files and cards, accurate identification of poor people, selection of resident teams, and strengthening front-line work force … … With the joint efforts of the whole society, China has made solid progress in solving regional overall poverty.
The Central Economic Work Conference requested that we should focus on solving the outstanding problems in realizing the "two guarantees and three guarantees", increase the efforts of poverty-stricken areas and special poverty-stricken groups such as "three districts and three states", reduce and prevent the poor from returning to poverty, and study and solve new problems such as the lack of policy support for those groups whose income level is slightly higher than that of poor households with established cards.
The the State Council Poverty Alleviation Office predicts that by the end of the year, the number of poor people in rural areas will be reduced by more than 85%, poverty-stricken villages will be withdrawn by about 80%, and poverty-stricken counties will be lifted out of poverty by more than 50%.
Clear water and blue sky consolidate achievements — —
The Central Economic Work Conference clearly pointed out that to fight the battle against pollution, we must hold our ground and consolidate our achievements.
In order to exchange for clear water, blue sky and pure land, the battle against pollution has been continuously exerted this year.
Through continuous intensive supervision in key areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Fenwei Plain, the pollution problem has been curbed, from the over-discharge of enterprises to the incomplete rectification of scattered pollution, from the rectification of small boilers to the control of dust on construction sites.
From January to October, the national average number of excellent days was 81.5%, up by 0.9 percentage points year-on-year, the concentration of PM2.5 decreased by 7.5%, and the concentration of PM10 decreased by 4.2%.
Mao Shengyong, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in the first three quarters, the investment in the national ecological protection and environmental management industry increased by 33.7% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 28.3 percentage points faster than the total investment, which became a highlight to promote the high-quality economic development in China.
Unswervingly push China’s economy to a new stage of high-quality development.
From January to November, China’s private investment increased by 8.7%, 3 percentage points higher than the same period of last year and 2.8 percentage points faster than the overall investment. In terms of industries, private investment in manufacturing increased by 10.3%, up by 6.2 percentage points over the same period of last year.
The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that with the implementation of a series of policies to encourage private investment and support private enterprises, such as introducing key projects to private capital, private investment has always maintained a good growth momentum this year.
The Central Economic Work Conference requires that we should closely follow the new connotation of important strategic opportunities, accelerate the optimization and upgrading of economic structure, enhance the ability of scientific and technological innovation, deepen reform and opening up, accelerate green development, participate in the reform of global economic governance system, and turn pressure into a driving force for accelerating high-quality economic development.
"In the face of new difficulties and challenges, we must have a clearer understanding and strive to turn crises into opportunities to push China’s economy to a new stage of high-quality development." Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of China International Economic Exchange Center, said.
Both the Central Economic Work Conference and the recently held Politburo meeting of the Chinese Communist Party emphasized the "Five Persistences": adhering to the general tone of striving for progress while maintaining stability, adhering to the new development concept, persisting in promoting high-quality development, persisting in the supply-side structural reform as the main line, persisting in deepening market-oriented reform and expanding high-level opening up.
From January to November, the added value of high-tech manufacturing and equipment manufacturing was 5.5 and 2.0 percentage points faster than that of industries above designated size, respectively; In the first three quarters, the contribution of service industry and consumption to economic growth rose to 60.8% and 78% respectively.
According to the data of the National Bureau of Statistics, the new kinetic energy index of China’s economic development from 2015 to 2017 was 123.5, 156.7 and 210.1, respectively, which was accelerating year by year.
The more complicated the situation, the more we must maintain our strategic strength and seize the period of strategic opportunities. Zhang Junkuo, deputy director of the State Council Development Research Center, believes that in the face of complex situation, the key is to unswervingly deepen reform and open wider to the outside world, and strive to improve the institutional and policy environment conducive to promoting high-quality development. (Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 23rd, by reporters Qi Zhongxi, Yu Wenjing and Wu Yu)