Top Chinese cadres meet to plot economic course for 2017
Top officials began meeting in Beijing on Wednesday to plot the course for next year’s key economic policies, state media reported.
Members of the Communist Party’s Politburo, central government department heads, provincial and municipal chiefs and executives of major state-owned firms are gathering in the capital for the annual closed-door Central Economic Work Conference.
Heads of financial institutions, and officials from other sectors such as the military and judiciary would also attend the conference, which was expected to last several days, Xinhua reported.
Issues at the top of the agenda could include ways to tackle rising debt and emerging financial risks, how to speed up supply-side reform and development of impoverished regions.
The five major tasks for next year were cutting excess capacity, destocking, deleveraging, cost cuts, and advancing underdeveloped sectors, Xinhua reported.
With a leadership reshuffle expected at next year’s party congress, Xinhua said it was important to maintain social stability while promoting reforms in key areas. “The tone of government is the principle of making progress while keeping stability, which will be particularly important in guiding next year’s economic work,” it said.
Among the other topics to be covered will be reviving the real economy, quickening the pace of fundamental reforms in state-owned firms and fiscal, financial and social security issues.
Beijing would also promote globalisation by advancing its “One Belt, One Road” initiative, improving rule by law and the investment environment, and opening more sectors to attract foreign investment, it said.
The economy registered 6.7 per cent growth in the first three quarters, putting the country on track to meeting this year’s goal of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent.
Last year, the first year of the ambitious 13th five-year plan, the economic growth rate dropped to 6.9 per cent, the slowest since 1991.
