Policy settings to remain steady during Q4

Policy in the fourth quarter will be steady but focus on coordination to cope with the economy’s downward pressure, Chinese experts and industry representatives said on Thursday.

The comments followed a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Wednesday that was held to analyze the current economic situation and arrange the country’s economic work.

The meeting called for further study to tackle bottlenecks in the development of China’s privatesector companies and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The meeting, presided over by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said that China has achieved sustained and healthy economic and social development this year but also faces downward pressure.

The meeting called for more proactive measures to be taken to support the economy.

Growth of the world’s secondlargest economy slowed to 6.5 percent in the third quarter from the second quarter’s 6.7 percent.

However, China is capable and confident of reaching its annual economic growth target of around 6.5 percent in 2018, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on October 19.

“Looking at media coverage of the meeting, fiscal and monetary policies will remain largely unchanged for the fourth quarter, but at the execution level we can expect to see more efforts on the coordinated execution of policies. The focus will be on supporting domestic demand and structural adjustment, so as to effectively cope with risks caused by weakening external demand,” Liu Xuezhi, an economist at Bank of Communications, told the Global Times on Thursday.

“The meeting reemphasized the focus on stability in areas like employment, the financial sector, foreign trade, foreign investment, domestic investment and market expectations,” Cong Yi, an economics professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times.

Xi has called for greater resolve and stronger measures in deepening the country’s reform and opening-up during his inspection tour of South China’s