Senior officials elaborate on steps to meet 2024 development goals

BEIJING -- China's senior economic and financial officials have reiterated confidence in achieving the country's development goals for 2024 as a raft of targeted steps will lend steam to the steady recovery of the world's second-largest economy.

China's 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of around 5 percent is an achievable goal via enhanced efforts, Zheng Shanjie, director of the country's top economic planner, told a press conference held Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the national legislature.

A string of economic and social development objectives including the GDP growth rate have been disclosed on Tuesday when the national legislature opened its annual session.

COORDINATED POLICY MIX

The senior officials attending the conference highlighted policy coordination to maximize support for the economy.

Central bank governor Pan Gongsheng said that the central bank will pay more attention to striking a balance between the short term and the long term, between seeking steady growth and preventing risks, and between internal equilibrium and external equilibrium in its monetary policy regulation.

Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an noted the country will appropriately enhance the intensity of the proactive fiscal policy, and boost the policy's quality and effectiveness.

To guard against the risks of local government debt, which are generally controllable, Lan said the pace will be picked up in developing a local government debt management mechanism in line with high-quality development.

Talking about policies regarding the capital market, Wu Qing, head of China's top securities watchdog, said that while enhancing regulation for listed firms, more efforts will be made to improve related rules and mechanisms to help competent firms thrive and optimize their corporate structure.

HUGE DOMESTIC DEMAND

Tapping the potential of the huge Chinese market is one priority task outlined by the government. The country has decided to promote a new round of large-scale equipment renewals and trade-in of consumer goods in a major move to expand domestic demand.

The new round of large-scale equipment renewals is estimated to create an enormous market worth more than 5 trillion yuan (about 704 billion U.S. dollars), according to Zheng.

"Talking about consumer goods, at the end of last year, the number of cars for civilian use in China has reached 336 million, and the number of household appliances in major categories such as refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners has also exceeded 3 billion units. Therefore, the upgrade of consumer goods such as automobiles and home appliances is also expected to create a trillion-yuan market," he said.

China plans to issue ultra long-term special government bonds starting from 2024 and over the coming few years. The funds raised through these bonds will mainly support areas such as scientific and technological innovation, integrated urban-rural development, coordinated regional development, food and energy security, and high-quality development of the population, according to Zheng.

Commerce Minister Wang Wentao introduced steps to tap the immense potential of service consumption. From 2013 to 2023, the proportion of per capita consumption expenditure directed toward services increased by 5.5 percentage points, rising from 39.7 percent to 45.2 percent.

UPLIFTING SIGNS

The Chinese economy has posted some fresh features, including new achievements in recovery, new progress in structural adjustments and new improvement in growth quality, according to Zheng.

Official surveys have indicated that the business confidence index for both manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms remained in the expansionary zone in February, while the country saw robust electricity production and usage in the first two months.

On the trade front, Wang said China is seeing positive signs in exports and imports despite a challenging global trade environment.

The country has seen a boom in trade activities such as busy China-Europe freight trains and cross-border e-commerce during the Spring Festival period, a traditional slack season for imports and exports.

"It's expected that the first quarter will see a good start of the year in economic performance," Zheng said.

China has the confidence, capabilities and conditions to meet the economic and social development targets for this year, he added.