China’s top economic adviser focuses on growth and restructuring during trip to Jiangsu province

Top economic policy adviser Liu He focused on China’s economic growth and restructuring during a three-day trip to Jiangsu province that ended on Friday in preparation for a key meeting in December on next year’s policies.

Liu, who directs the Communist Party’s Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, talked with local policy advisers and economic officials from seven regions including Shanghai, Hunan, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia. They discussed economic trends and policies, the Xin Hua Daily reported, without elaborating on their views.

Liu, who has been participating in the drafting of China’s five-year plans since early 1990s, attracted much attention from the public with his recent field study as officials started preparing for the year-end annual conference in Beijing in which top leaders meet to review the economy and roll out plans for the coming year.

Mainland economists agreed that China’s growth is steadily slowing and that the trend would continue for at least the next few years.

Cao Yuanzheng, chief economist at the Bank of China, said, “China is now in the process of economic restructuring, which will take more time to complete. So in the next couple of years, this lowered growth trend will continue.”

China is shifting its dependence on exports to domestic consumption and from manufacturing industries to the service industry, said Cao.

The government is also simplifying administrative approval procedures and reforming state-owned enterprises, with the recent cut in top executive salaries and changes in their job descriptions a prime example of its efforts, he added.