The National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference in April to respond to social hotspots such as economic operation, the Belt and Road Initiative, price trends, food security, and Shenzhen's comprehensive reform pilots.
China Development and Reform News reporter Gao Hongjie photographed
"Since the beginning of this year, in the face of a more complex and severe domestic and foreign development environment, in the face of increased downward pressure on the economy and the emergence of some factors that exceed expectations, the GDP in the first quarter increased by 4.8% year-on-year, the economic operation maintained an overall stability, and the quality and efficiency of development have improved, which is not easy." On April 19, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference in April, and Meng Wei, deputy director of the Political Research Office of the National Development and Reform Commission and spokesman of the National Development and Reform Commission, attended the press conference to introduce the macroeconomic operation and answer reporters' questions on hot issues such as steady growth, commodity prices, bailout service industry, food security, and crude steel output reduction.
Meng Wei said that with the effective control of the epidemic and the gradual emergence of policy effects, the normal economic order will be quickly restored and the economic operation will return to the normal track. The ability of enterprises to adapt to changes in the situation is very strong, the resilience of the mainland's economic development is very strong, and the fundamentals of long-term improvement have not changed.
Strengthen the implementation of macro policies
When talking about the economic data of the National Bureau of Statistics in the first quarter, Meng Wei said that from the data, the growth rate of consumption and investment in the first two months has accelerated. However, since March, due to the frequent occurrence of domestic epidemics, especially some unexpected factors exceed expectations, bringing greater uncertainty and challenges to the stable operation of the economy, consumption, especially contact cluster consumption and some investment projects have been greatly affected, the total retail sales of social consumer goods in the month of March have changed from growth to decline year-on-year, the growth rate of fixed asset investment has dropped significantly compared with the previous 2 months, and consumption and investment have fluctuated greatly.
"At the same time, we must see that the impact of the epidemic on domestic demand is staged. With the effective control of the epidemic and the gradual emergence of policy effects, the normal economic order will be restored rapidly and the economic operation will return to the normal track. Meng Wei said.
Meng Wei said that in order to achieve stable growth, in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will thoroughly implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, coordinate the prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development, work with relevant parties to increase the implementation of macro policies, and strengthen the policy measures in the front, moderately strengthen the force, and actively plan more policy measures, strengthen policy coordination and linkage, and focus on stabilizing the macroeconomic market. There are three specific measures.
Efforts should be made to expand consumption and promote investment. In terms of consumption, the focus is to promote the introduction of policy documents to further release consumption potential and promote the sustained recovery of consumption, strive to stabilize current consumption, and comprehensively implement policies to release consumption potential. Implement relief and support measures for special hardship industries such as catering, retail, tourism, civil aviation, highways, waterways, and railway transportation, and encourage local governments to increase their support efforts to stabilize more consumer service market entities. It is necessary to expand consumption in key areas, continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles, and encourage local governments to carry out green smart home appliances to the countryside and replace old with new. It is necessary to promote new consumption, promote the deep integration of online and offline consumption, and cultivate and expand new consumption formats. It is necessary to tap the consumption potential of counties and townships, and guide commercial and trade circulation enterprises and e-commerce platforms to extend to rural areas. Guide financial institutions to enrich bulk consumer financial products. In terms of investment, on April 15, the National Development and Reform Commission held a special press conference to introduce the expansion of investment, and the next step will be to actively promote effective investment and strive to form more physical workload in the first half of the year.
Increase the intensity of assistance to enterprises to bail out. The focus is to accelerate the implementation of the 18 policies that promote the steady growth of the industrial economy and the 43 policies to promote the recovery and development of difficult industries in the service industry, increase support for the real economy and small and medium-sized enterprises in a targeted manner, strengthen the implementation of the policy of reducing the burden of small and medium-sized enterprises, and continue to carry out special actions to prevent and resolve arrears of accounts owed to small and medium-sized enterprises. Earnestly implement the spirit of the April 18 national video conference to ensure the smooth flow of goods and promote the stability of the industrial chain supply chain, and on the basis of accurately implementing the epidemic prevention and control measures, make every effort to ensure the smooth flow of logistics.
Resolutely guard the bottom line of people's livelihood. The focus is on implementing the policy of giving priority to employment, supporting the employment and entrepreneurship of college graduates, promoting migrant workers to go out to work and find employment nearby, encouraging returning to their hometowns to start businesses to promote employment, continuing to carry out large-scale vocational skills training, and continuously improving the quality of employment services. Earnestly strengthen the supply and stable price of important people's livelihood commodities, and ensure the basic livelihood of the people in difficulty.
Meng Wei said that the National Development and Reform Commission will closely track and judge the development and changes of the situation at home and abroad, formulate and improve various response plans for various uncertainties that may be encountered, strengthen policy reserves, and timely introduce effective measures to ensure that the economy operates within a reasonable range.
The China-Europe Express has remained above 1,000 trains for 23 consecutive months
Since the beginning of this year, the mainland has signed intergovernmental cooperation documents on the "Belt and Road" with Nicaragua, Syria, Argentina, Malawi and other four countries. Up to now, the mainland has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with 149 countries and 32 international organizations to jointly build the "Belt and Road", and the circle of friends for jointly building the "Belt and Road" has continued to expand.
"In the face of a more complex and severe external environment, the key domestic railway ports and major overseas transport channels of the China-Europe Express have remained safe and smooth, and the overall operation has been stable and efficient, showing strong development resilience." Meng Wei introduced that in the first quarter, the China-Europe express train opened a total of 3630 trains, transported 350,000 TEUs, an increase of 7% and 9% year-on-year, respectively, the comprehensive heavy container rate of 97.7%, and the single monthly traffic volume maintained more than 1,000 trains for 23 consecutive months, effectively ensuring the stability of the international industrial chain supply chain.
Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Ministry of Commerce, jointly issued the Opinions on Promoting the Green Development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and deployed 15 key tasks in promoting the green development of the Belt and Road Initiative. Meng Wei summarized it as "three co-ordinations". The first is to comprehensively promote cooperation in key areas of green development. Including strengthening green infrastructure interconnection, green energy cooperation, green transportation cooperation, green industry cooperation, green trade cooperation, green finance cooperation, green technology cooperation, green standards cooperation, climate change response cooperation and other 9 key tasks. The second is to comprehensively promote the green development of overseas projects. Including measures such as standardizing the overseas environmental behavior of enterprises and promoting the green development of "two high" projects such as coal power. The third is to coordinate and improve the green development support and guarantee system. Including funds, green development cooperation platform, green development capacity building, overseas project environmental risk prevention and control and other support guarantees.
The reporter learned from the meeting that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant departments and units to coordinate and systematically promote the green development of the "Belt and Road", strengthen publicity and guidance, organize and carry out assessment in a timely manner, and ensure that relevant key tasks are implemented in a timely manner. In April, the National Development and Reform Commission will hold a tripartite coordination committee meeting with China Development Bank and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) to deepen cooperation on the green development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
The three aspects continue to increase support for market players
"The recent spread of the epidemic has brought great difficulties to market players, especially those related to the service industry." Meng Wei said that in order to promote the service industry to tide over the difficulties and recover steadily, with the approval of the State Council, in February this year, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with 13 departments, concentrated on 43 policy measures to bail out the service industry, and continued to promote the implementation of policies. Meng Wei introduced the latest progress from two aspects.
At the departmental level, supporting policies in various fields have been released one after another. Meng Wei gave an example, such as the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation intensively issued 10 tax reduction and fee reduction policy announcements, and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the People's Bank of China and other departments have introduced a series of policy measures such as rent reduction for small and micro enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households, promoting the recovery and development of tourism, and standardizing the management of banking service market adjustment prices.
At the local level, all localities have accelerated the implementation of policies. Up to now, more than 20 provinces have formulated specific implementation measures and proposed relevant innovation support measures in combination with reality.
Meng Wei said that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will, in accordance with the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, better coordinate the prevention and control of the epidemic and economic and social development, consolidate and expand the effectiveness of various policies while strictly implementing the requirements of epidemic prevention and control, and continue to increase support for market players.
On the one hand, efforts should be made to open up the problem of difficult points and blockages. Adhere to the linkage between the upper and lower levels and the coordination of departments, increase the coordination and supervision of key measures, and timely and effectively solve the difficulties and blockages in the implementation process.
On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the tracking of policy implementation. Continue to deepen policy publicity and guidance, so that more market players know the policy and make good use of the policy. Guide all departments and regions to take the initiative to dock with market entities, promote the implementation of policies as soon as possible, and strengthen supervision and guidance and notification of departments or localities that are not in place.
"In addition, we will also strengthen the tracking and judgment of the situation at home and abroad, do a good job in policy reserves, further enrich the policy toolbox, effectively respond to the uncertainty of the external environment, and continuously enhance the confidence of market players." Meng Wei said.
Respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of domestic supply and stable prices
"We will work with relevant parties to comprehensively implement policies and precise regulations, and respond to the uncertainty of the external environment with the certainty of domestic supply and price stability." When talking about the work of ensuring the supply and price stabilization of bulk commodities, Meng Wei said.
Recently, due to geopolitics and other factors, the volatility of the international commodity market has intensified and prices have risen significantly. "China's economy has been deeply integrated into the world economy, the proportion of some commodities being extracted is relatively high, and the rise in international prices will objectively have an imported impact and increase the pressure on domestic PPI upwards."
Since last year, the National Development and Reform Commission has closely tracked and studied the supply and price operation of some raw materials, and has taken a series of measures to strengthen the supply and price stability of bulk commodities. From the current situation, in March, the PPI rose by 8.3% year-on-year, the increase narrowed by 0.5 percentage points from the previous month, and fell for five consecutive months, in stark contrast to the continuous climb in the PPI of major developed economies.
For the later trend, Meng Wei analyzed that although international import factors have increased the uncertainty of commodity price trends, as the effect of the policy of ensuring supply and stabilizing prices continues to appear, superimposed on the high base effect, "it is expected that the overall downward trend of PPI will not change during the year", Meng Wei said.
Meng Wei said that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will make every effort to ensure the supply and price stability of bulk commodities from three aspects. The first is to closely track the commodity market and price trends, continue to strengthen monitoring and analysis, and timely discover problems, timely study and judge the situation, and deal with them as soon as possible. The second is to effectively ensure market supply, accelerate the release of high-quality production capacity, strengthen the coordination and linkage of price and reserve policies, give play to the role of reserve regulation, and strengthen reserve and import and export regulation. The third is to strengthen the guidance of market expectations, timely release market information, increase market supervision, severely crack down on illegal behaviors such as hoarding, price gouging, and spreading false information, and resolutely curb excessive speculation and speculation.
Food security on the mainland is generally guaranteed
Recently, due to geopolitical conflicts and other factors, global food crisis concerns have intensified. According to the latest data released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, global food prices once again jumped to record highs in March this year. As the risk of a food crisis increases globally, how will continents respond? Will the national reserves be increased?
"In contrast, the mainland's grain supply is relatively sufficient, the price is stable, and the overall food security is guaranteed." Meng Wei analyzed from three aspects, first, the comprehensive grain production capacity is relatively strong, and the national grain output has remained above 1.3 trillion jin for 7 consecutive years; second, the grain inventory is relatively sufficient. The reserves of local refined grain and oil products in the main urban areas of 36 large and medium-sized cities and areas prone to market fluctuations have reached 15 days or more, and the ability to prevent market risks has been enhanced. Third, the capacity to ensure emergency grain supply is increasing day by day. Under the condition of normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the domestic grain market has always maintained a good trend of smooth operation.
Food security is a matter of economic development and social stability. In the current complex and severe international environment, we need to strengthen our bottom-line thinking, enhance our risk awareness, and unremittingly do a good job in related work. In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Grain and Material Reserve Bureau will adhere to comprehensive policies and precise regulation and control to effectively ensure the supply of the domestic grain market. Stabilize grain production, accurately arrange policy-oriented grain sales, continue to do a good job in grain procurement, strengthen market monitoring and early warning, and strengthen law enforcement and supervision of the grain market.
At present, it is the spring ploughing season, and the guarantee of fertilizer supply is directly related to the stability of agricultural production such as grain. However, about half of the mainland's potash fertilizer demand depends on imports, and under the influence of more external uncertainties, whether it can ensure the stability of the supply and price of agricultural materials such as chemical fertilizers is the focus of attention of the broad masses of farmers.
In this regard, Meng Wei said that in the second half of last year, especially since the launch of spring ploughing and fertilizer preparation in the fourth quarter, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, closely studied and judged the supply and demand situation, and in a timely manner carried out a series of chemical fertilizer supply and price stabilization work through measures such as building mechanisms, promoting production, and grasping reserves, supported spring agricultural production, and consolidated the foundation for a bumper summer grain harvest, and achieved phased results. "From the current point of view, the supply of nitrogen fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer on the mainland is generally guaranteed, and potassium fertilizer needs to be partially imported to meet agricultural demand."
In view of the external uncertainties affecting the supply and price stability of potash fertilizer in China, the National Development and Reform Commission has recently made every effort to promote the supply and price stability of potash fertilizer by guiding key potash fertilizer production enterprises to increase production and supply, deploying and releasing 1 million tons of national potash reserves, actively organizing the expansion of potash imports, smoothing the domestic transportation of potash fertilizer, and promoting the reduction of railway transportation costs. According to monitoring, the recent supply situation of potash fertilizer has continued to improve, and the wholesale price of potassium chloride in the country has been stable and declining.
Meng Wei introduced that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will closely monitor and judge the supply and demand and price situation of chemical fertilizers, give full play to the role of the fertilizer supply and price stability work mechanism, and promote the implementation of the policies and measures that have been introduced by all relevant parties. In terms of production, we should earnestly enhance the domestic chemical fertilizer production and supply capacity, promote the resumption of production and production of suspended enterprises as soon as possible, urge coal enterprises to perform medium- and long-term coal supply contracts signed with chemical fertilizer production enterprises, and energy enterprises should ensure the stable supply of natural gas and sulfur of chemical fertilizer production enterprises and reasonably determine prices。 In terms of transportation, we will improve the transport capacity guarantee level of chemical fertilizers and their production raw materials, give priority to ensuring the domestic transportation of chemical fertilizers, implement the preferential railway freight rate policies for agricultural fertilizers, and give priority to the handling and unloading of chemical fertilizer production raw materials such as fertilizers and sulfur imported into Hong Kong. In terms of reserves, supervise and urge the storage enterprises to sell the expired reserve fertilizers to the market as soon as possible, strengthen the follow-up supervision of the national potash reserves in the early auction, and supervise the auction and transaction enterprises to strictly perform the contract. In terms of circulation, we should improve the efficiency of the circulation of chemical fertilizers, speed up the entry of agricultural materials into the villages and households, and ensure that they are constantly filed, not out of stock, and do not miss the agricultural time. In terms of supervision, we will strengthen the coordination and coordination of the supervision of the agricultural materials market, carry out supervision and inspection of special varieties of chemical fertilizer production and circulation enterprises, and strictly investigate and deal with illegal acts in the fertilizer market.
The results of shenzhen's comprehensive reform pilot projects continue to appear
In October 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced at the celebration meeting for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone that he would support Shenzhen in implementing a comprehensive reform pilot. "Over the past year, the first batch of 40 authorized matters have been fully implemented, and the reform results in key areas and key links have continued to appear." Meng Wei specifically introduced the six achievements of Shenzhen's comprehensive reform pilot.
First, in terms of the market-oriented allocation of factors, since the reform of the registration system of the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, 302 new listed companies have been added, with a cumulative stock financing of 543.9 billion yuan. It took the lead in carrying out the pilot project of commercial registration of contractual funds, and a number of high-quality private equity management institutions settled in Shenzhen.
Second, in terms of optimizing the business environment, the reform of the bankruptcy system has achieved remarkable results, receiving 1,084 personal bankruptcy applications, hearing and terminating 89 cases of personal bankruptcy, and achieving mutual recognition with Hong Kong courts in a number of enterprise bankruptcy procedures. The reform of the new type of legal protection of intellectual property rights has been carried out in an orderly manner, the first "administrative injunction of intellectual property rights" has been implemented in the country, and for the first time, it has been judicially determined that the articles generated by artificial intelligence constitute works and the rights holders enjoy copyright.
Third, in terms of the environment of scientific and technological innovation, the identification standards for foreign "high-tech and cutting-edge" talents have been introduced, and more than 440 copies of the "Confirmation Letter for Foreign High-end Talents" have been issued for qualified talents. In 37 scientific research institutions, the reform of the empowerment of scientific and technological achievements was carried out, and more than 160 rights to the division and confirmation of scientific and technological achievements of posts were completed.
Fourth, in terms of high-level open economy, in the fields of taxation, construction, planning, tourism and clothing, hong Kong and Macao professionals have been exempted from cross-border practice, and as of now, 69 Hong Kong and Macao tax-related professionals and 6 joint-venture tax accountant firms have completed administrative registration, and 324 Hong Kong construction and 29 planning professionals have registered for practice. The first bonded fuel oil for international voyage ships was successfully refilled at Yantian Port in Shenzhen.
Fifth, in terms of the supply of people's livelihood services, we have steadily promoted the pilot application of international cutting-edge drugs, and 13 kinds of urgently needed clinical drugs and 3 kinds of medical devices have been approved for use. 118 Hong Kong and Macao physicians obtained physician practice certificates in Shenzhen, and 37 Hong Kong consultant doctors obtained certificates of senior professional titles in Shenzhen.
Sixth, in terms of ecological environment and urban spatial governance, the first batch of projects under the framework of the climate investment and financing reform system were successfully financed, and the first mixed land use of the secondary and tertiary industries in Shenzhen was listed and traded, effectively improving the comprehensive benefits of land use.
"At the same time, reform and legislation are effectively linked." Meng Wei introduced that the State Council approved the temporary adjustment and implementation of the relevant provisions of the four administrative regulations in Shenzhen, providing important legal guarantees for the implementation of warranty-free and international ship registration reform for yacht free travel. Seven special economic zone regulations, such as personal bankruptcy regulations and data regulations, have been newly formulated, and a number of emerging areas of legislation such as artificial intelligence have been accelerated, effectively filling the institutional gaps in related fields.
Meng Wei said that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant parties to guide Shenzhen to comprehensively summarize the comprehensive reform pilot, promote the deepening of reform, and achieve more results.
Guide steel companies to abandon the extensive development mode
Crude steel production reduction work continues to advance, what is the focus of this year's work, how to promote? In response to a question from this reporter, Meng Wei said that in 2021, with the joint efforts of all relevant parties, the national crude steel production will be reduced by nearly 30 million tons year-on-year, and the task of reducing crude steel output will be fully completed. In 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the National Bureau of Statistics will continue to carry out the reduction of crude steel production nationwide, guide steel companies to abandon the extensive development mode of winning by quantity, and promote the high-quality development of the steel industry.
"In the process of reducing crude steel production, we will adhere to the 'one general principle' and highlight the 'two priorities'." Meng Wei introduced. "One general principle" in order to firmly grasp the general tone of steady word and steady progress, while maintaining the continuity and stability of the supply-side structural reform policy of the steel industry, adhere to the principle of marketization and rule of law, give play to the role of market mechanism, stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises, and strictly implement relevant laws and regulations such as environmental protection, energy consumption, safety, and land use.
Highlight the "two priorities" In order to adhere to the distinction between situations, maintain pressure, avoid "one size fits all", highlight the reduction of crude steel production in key areas such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding areas, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Fenwei Plain, and highlight the reduction of crude steel production in key areas with poor environmental performance level, high energy consumption, and relatively backward level of process equipment, the goal is to ensure that the national crude steel production will be reduced year-on-year in 2022.
Source: National Development and Reform Commission official micro