China confident of meeting its growth target
CHINA is confident and capable of achieving its annual growth target and it has ample policy tools to address shocks from external uncertainties, a senior official with the top economic planner said yesterday.
“We have the confidence, strength and conditions, and we have sufficient competence to counter uncertainties in the world economy with certainties from China’s economic resilience and sustainability,” said Yan Pengcheng, spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission.
Yan, also head of NDRC’s policy studies department, made the remarks when commenting on China’s economic performance in the first six months of 2018 and its future growth trend at a press conference.
China is aiming for annual economic growth of around 6.5 percent this year. In the first six months, China’s GDP rose 6.8 percent year on year, latest official data showed.
The country’s economy grew 6.9 percent in 2017, picking up the pace for the first time in seven years.
Yan said China’s major macro-economic indicators have remained stable in the first half of this year with continued improvement in economic structure, quality and efficiency.
Years of economic transformation has turned China into an economy mainly driven by consumption, services and domestic demand instead of investment and exports, which will provide support for China’s future economic development, Yan said.
Meanwhile, China has experience in managing risks and challenges from previous financial crises, as well as sufficient room for policy maneuver to cope with shocks from uncertainties in the world economy, he said.
In the second half of the year, China will make macro-policies more flexible and coordinated to keep economic fundamentals stable, Yan said, pledging to further unlock domestic demand, push forward reform in key areas, improve the business environment and continue opening-up.
He cited a number of supportive factors for the economy, including China’s low budget deficit ratio and government debt levels, commercial banks’ high capital adequacy ratio and provision coverage ratio, declining corporate debt levels, and plenty of policy tools that authorities can employ.
For firms impacted by the Sino-US trade frictions, China will provide “targeted” help after assessment of the impact, Yan said, without giving details.
He also said the economic planning agency approved 102 fixed-asset investment projects with a combined investment totaling 260.3 billion yuan (US$39 billion) in the first six months.
The projects were mainly in high-tech, social service programs and water conservation industries, Yan said.
Data on Monday showed China’s FAI grew 6 percent year on year in the first half of this year, 1.5 percentage points lower than that of the first three months.
FAI in high-tech manufacturing displayed strong momentum by growing 13.1 percent year on year, outpacing the country’s general FAI growth by 7.1 percentage points. FAI includes capital spent on infrastructure, property, machinery and other physical assets.