China has laid out economic priorities for next year, pledging to maintain the consistency, stability and sustainability of its macro policies, expand domestic demand, strengthen anti-monopoly efforts and step up all-round opening-up. The annual Central Economic Work Conference, held last week, outlined eight key tasks, including efforts to strengthen China’s competitiveness in strategic science and technology and to make industry and supply chains more independent. President Xi Jinping reviewed the country’s economic work in 2020, analyzed the current situation and mapped out plans for 2021 at the conference. China will continue to adopt a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy while maintaining necessary support for the economic recovery next year, said a statement released after the meeting. The proactive fiscal policy must be implemented to bolster financial support for the nation’s major strategic tasks, promote innovation in science and technology, expedite the adjustment of the economic structure, readjust income distribution, and defuse the risks arising from the hidden debts of local governments. The prudent monetary policy includes replenishing the capital of banks via multiple channels, according to the statement. Market reform of interest rates and exchange rates will be deepened, while the exchange rate of the yuan will be kept stable at a reasonable level. Policymakers at the meeting re-emphasized the dual circulation strategy. They also reiterated the importance of pursuing supply-side structural reform. 

Meeting participants recounted what was “an extraordinary year” in the history of the People’s Republic of China, during which the nation was faced with a challenging and complicated international landscape, arduous tasks of pursuing domestic reform, development and stability and, especially, severe shocks from Covid-19, the China Daily reports. China is set to become the only major economy securing economic growth this year. In boosting domestic demand, policymakers pledged to take more steps to create jobs, refine social security, improve income equality, and expand middle-income groups to bolster consumption. The growth of the digital economy and investment in new types of infrastructure will be promoted. 

The meeting reiterated pledges to widen market access, promote fair competition, protect intellectual property rights (IPRs) and build a unified domestic market, adding that China will actively consider joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. To ensure China’s food security, policymakers pledged to bolster the growth of the seed industry. Antitrust efforts will be strengthened focussing on internet companies and the protection of consumer rights. Innovation in the financial sector must be conducted under the premise of prudent regulatory measures, they added. While reiterating the policy stance that houses are for living in, not for speculation, policymakers pledged to place strong emphasis on the development of public rental housing programs, refine policies for long-term tenancy housing and standardize development of the rental market. 

With China already committing to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, the conference urged quicker steps to come up with an action plan that enables the peaking of emissions. It called for accelerated efforts to improve the industry and energy structures and enable the peaking of coal consumption at an early date while bolstering the development of new energy, the China Daily reports. 

China’s key economic indicators for November showed strengthening recovery. Retail sales of consumer goods went up 5% year-on-year in November, up from the 4.3% surge in October, sustaining upward momentum. Auto sales saw 11.8% growth and sales of household appliances grew 5.1% in November. Communications equipment sales jumped 43.6%. Fixed-asset investment (FAI) edged up 2.6% year-on-year in the 

first 11 months of the year. Investment by the private sector, which accounts for 60% of total investment, rose 0.2%, the first growth registered this year. The surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2% in November, now back to pre-virus levels. Industrial output growth quickened to 7% from a year earlier, the fastest pace in 20 months. The services sector also saw further recovery, expanding 8% from a year earlier. China’s economy expanded 0.7% in the first nine months, following a 1.6% contraction in the first half and a 6.8% contraction in the first quarter. China’s exports soared 21.1% year-on-year in November in U.S. dollar terms, the fastest growth since February 2018.