Li chairs meet on economic growth

CHINESE Premier Li Keqiang has called for more efforts to push forward the reform and openingup and maintain the economic operation within a reasonable range.

The Chinese economy has achieved steady growth at a medium- and high-speed since the beginning of this year, which did not come easily, Li said yesterday while chairing a symposium attended by economists and entrepreneurs to analyze the current economic situation and solicit advice for the economic work at next stage.

The economy has been operating within a reasonable range with newly-added urban jobs meeting the annual target ahead of schedule, Li said.

Noting that the downward economic pressure is increasing, prices of some products like pork are rising and enterprises are facing more difficulties, Li urged solid efforts to ensure the achievement of the annual economic targets.

Li underscored efforts to keep the macro policies stable, make use of counter-cyclical adjustment tools more effectively and enhance the support for the real economy, especially for small and micro-size and private firms to beef up the market confidence.

The utilization of local government special bonds should be further optimized to channel more social capital to weak areas and sectors related to people’s livelihood, said Li.

The high-level openingup measures should be further advanced and the upgrading of the manufacturing industry should be quickened to promote high-quality growth, Li said.

The premier called for multiple measures to stabilize the agricultural production, accelerate the recovery of hog production, ensure market supply and curb the relatively quick growth of prices of certain products.

The attendees agreed that the operation of the economy has been generally stable, thanks to the tax and fee cuts and improving the business environment.

(Xinhua)