On the Economic Situation

Have multiple economic indicators in China shown marginal improvement since September, and will this trend continue?

With the implementation and effectiveness of various policies, especially a package of incremental policies, since October, the overall economic operation has maintained an upward trend. In September, many economic indicators in China showed marginal improvement, and in October, major economic indicators further improved, with positive factors in economic operation continuing to increase.

As existing policies continue to take effect, incremental policies are effectively implemented, and the combined effects of policies are continuously released, the economic operation in November and December is expected to continue the upward trend since October.

What are the new changes in China's economic growth potential and actual supporting conditions next year?

Looking forward to 2025, China still has many favorable conditions and supporting factors for economic development.

In terms of development momentum, More than 300 major reform measures deployed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China are being accelerated, further comprehensively deepening reform and opening up, which will continue to stimulate the endogenous driving force and innovation vitality of the whole society; the innovation-driven development strategy is being implemented in depth, and the real economy and the digital economy, advanced manufacturing and modern service industries are merging and developing, and the cultivation of new quality productivity will create more new growth points, continuously promoting the accelerated transformation of old and new driving forces.

In terms of market space, China's super-large-scale market advantage is obvious, and there is still huge market demand to be released. Taking new-type urbanization construction as an example, China's overall urbanization rate still has a lot of room for improvement. According to estimates, every one percentage point increase in the urbanization rate can drive an increase of one trillion yuan in investment demand and more than 200 billion yuan in consumption demand. In addition, there is also huge effective investment demand in areas such as energy conservation and carbon reduction transformation. New types of consumption such as digital and green consumption, as well as consumption demand for "elderly and young children" services such as elderly care and childcare, remain strong, and bottlenecks in the industrial chain are expected to be further unblocked, all of which will continuously stimulate new supply and create new demand.

In terms of policy support, Next year is the closing year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and a series of major strategic tasks, major reform measures, and major engineering projects are being fully implemented and taking effect; at the same time, we have sufficient policy space and abundant policy reserves, and tools such as precise regulation and counter-cyclical regulation are constantly being improved, the consistency of macroeconomic policy orientation is constantly improving, and macroeconomic policies are systematically integrated and precisely implemented, which will strongly support steady and healthy economic development.

Overall, the fundamental trend of China's economic recovery and long-term improvement remains unchanged.

On the "Two New"

What is the implementation status of the "two new" policies? Will there be more follow-up policies and new policies for the "two new" next year?

To date, nearly 300 implementation guidelines have been promoted and implemented, and the guiding and driving role of ultra-long-term special government bonds has been continuously played, striving to stimulate new quality of life, new industrial momentum, and new market vitality with the "two new" policies.

First, it better serves the needs of the masses' consumption. The "trade-in" of consumer goods includes three major categories of key products: automobiles, home appliances, and home furnishings. It promotes local governments to make good use of 150 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special government bonds to realistically support consumers' demand for higher-quality, more intelligent, and more environmentally friendly products, In actual operation, home appliances can be subsidized up to 20%, and automobiles up to 20,000 yuan In terms of home furnishings, many places specifically support the renovation for the elderly. Judging from the data, the "trade-in" policy has driven the continuous recovery of home appliance sales, In October, the sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment increased by nearly 40% year-on-year ; consumers prefer energy-efficient products. Preliminary statistics show that the sales of first-class energy-efficiency home appliances accounted for as high as 90% in the "trade-in" activities.

Second, increase support for industrial transformation and upgrading. The equipment renewal policy focuses on seven key areas: 7 key areas take out 150 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special government bonds directly allocated to projects, and at the same time, 112 standards are released in terms of energy consumption and pollutant emissions 112 standards to support enterprises in carrying out process updates, digital empowerment, and green transformation, promoting the development of industries towards "new" and "green," and effectively promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.

Third, support the economic recovery and improvement. The "two new" policies work together from both the supply and demand sides. On the one hand, they support enterprises in enhancing their product iteration and upgrading capabilities through "updates" to better meet consumer demand, and at the same time, they also support residents in increasing consumption through "trade-ins" to drive enterprise investment and expansion, thereby promoting a virtuous cycle of mutual promotion between investment and consumption, such as In the first 10 months, the investment in the purchase of national equipment and tools increased by 16.1% year-on-year and its contribution rate to investment growth exceeded 60%.

Next, in the process of promoting the "two new" work, we will also continue to strengthen the full-chain supervision of funds and promote projects to quickly form physical workload; continue to optimize the consumer market environment, and legally and strictly investigate behaviors such as "raising prices before discounts" and "false discounts" ; continue to do a good job in recycling and utilization, and guide the newly established China Resource Recycling Group Accelerate the establishment of national and functional resource recycling and utilization platforms, and carry out special inspections on illegal dismantling of discarded electrical and electronic products 。

Next steps for the "Two New" policy On the one hand, we will conduct an intensified evaluation of the "Two New" policy's effectiveness and summarize and continue good practices; on the other hand, we will study and propose policy measures to further increase support and expand the scope of support in the future, which will be publicly released when appropriate after relevant procedures are completed, continuously promoting public benefit, enterprise profit, and economic improvement through the "Two New" policy

Regarding the private economy

How to view the current development situation of the private economy? What measures will be taken next?

Since the beginning of this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with relevant departments, has taken multiple measures to continuously promote the development of the private economy

On the one hand, continuously improve laws and policies. Accelerate the legislative process for the private economy and solicit public opinions, promoting local governments and departments to focus on private investment, fair access, and financing support, and introduce policy measures to support the development of the private economy. On the other hand, promote the resolution of issues and demands. As of the end of October, the National Development and Reform Commission has received 1234 issues and demands reported by private enterprises through various channels, of which 696 have been resolved, coordinating and solving some practical problems

From statistical data and current understanding, positive factors for the development of the private economy continue to increase In terms of investment, private investment in manufacturing increased by 11.4% year-on-year in the first 10 months, 2.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate of total manufacturing investment, maintaining a good growth momentum for private investment in the real economy. In terms of foreign trade, the imports and exports of private enterprises denominated in RMB increased by 9.3% year-on-year in the first 10 months. In terms of market vitality, market consumption potential is accelerating its release. For example, online retail, where the private economy accounts for a higher proportion, has significantly accelerated its growth, with online retail sales of physical goods increasing by 8.3% year-on-year in the first 10 months, 0.4 percentage points faster than the growth rate in the first 9 months

Creating a favorable development environment requires continuous and unremitting efforts. The National Development and Reform Commission is continuously tracking the challenges and problems in the development of the private economy, is willing to listen carefully to the voices of private enterprises, and will continue to work with relevant parties to take more practical measures to more strongly support private enterprises in participating in major national projects, improve financing support policies and systems for private enterprises, and actively create a social atmosphere of care and support for the development of the private economy; at the same time, it will continue to give full play to the role of multi-level and normalized communication and exchange mechanisms with private enterprises, help solve problems in development, strive to make private enterprises feel a sense of gain, and continuously promote the development and growth of the private economy

Regarding market access

Accelerate the breaking of various market access "glass doors," "revolving doors," and "spring doors"

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with relevant parties, conducted the 7th batch of investigations and rectifications regarding violations of the negative list for market access, and publicly reported 10 typical cases For example, in a project bidding in a certain place, small-scale engineering construction enterprises from outside were restricted from participating in bidding, and bidding enterprises were illegally required to register locally and establish local branches, which hindered equal access for business entities in accordance with the law. Another example is that a certain place illegally added access conditions for wind energy resource development and operation, requiring private enterprises to be bundled with state-owned enterprises to jointly participate in wind farm resource development, which is a typical setting of market access barriers

The National Development and Reform Commission established in 2021 a system for collecting and reporting cases of violations of the negative list for market access focusing on issues of public concern and business concern, specifically investigating, reporting, and rectifying typical cases where some localities set up hidden market access barriers or conduct irregular approvals not in accordance with list requirements, thereby creating a demonstration effect for breaking similar access barriers at the national level and better ensuring equal access for all types of business entities in accordance with the law. As of now, a cumulative total of 115 cases across 7 batches have been publicly reported for rectification 。

Deeply breaking down market access barriers is a major reform task deployed by the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Next, we will continue to collect and report cases of violations of the negative list for market access as an important task in implementing the market access system and breaking down market access barriers For any local violation of the market access system found, it will be rectified and reported, accelerating the breaking of various market access "glass doors," "revolving doors," and "spring doors" and creating a more fair and transparent access environment in accordance with laws and regulations

Regarding "Work-for-Relief"

The "work-for-relief" special investment projects pre-allocated will absorb over 200,000 people for local employment

To give full play to the role of the "work-for-relief" policy, recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance, pre-allocated 9.05 billion yuan in two batches of 2025 central special investment for "work-for-relief," supporting localities in implementing over 2,000 "work-for-relief" projects

In this process, local governments are urged to complete preliminary project work to ensure that projects can quickly start construction once investment plans are issued, and people can receive labor remuneration as soon as possible; at the same time, the focus will be tilted towards counties that have been lifted out of poverty, national key counties for rural revitalization assistance, and areas heavily affected by torrential rains and floods, prioritizing the organization of vulnerable groups such as people lifted out of poverty, those under poverty relapse monitoring, migrant workers returning to their hometowns, and disaster-affected people to participate in engineering project construction relying on project construction to actively carry out labor skills training and development of public welfare management positions. Funds must be used efficiently to ensure that people in need not only receive labor remuneration but also improve their labor skills through participation in "work-for-relief" projects

According to preliminary estimates, the "work-for-relief" special investment projects pre-allocated are expected to provide local employment for over 200,000 people and plan to disburse over 2.7 billion yuan in labor remuneration If the "work-for-relief" approach is also promoted in key engineering and agricultural rural infrastructure projects, the scale of employment absorption and remuneration disbursement will increase several fold

Next, the National Development and Reform Commission will supervise and guide local authorities, to expedite the start of construction for the early batch of "work-for-relief" projects effectively ensuring that working people better benefit from the "work-for-relief" policy