The Information Office of the State Council held a press conference on the morning of March 21, 2024, at which the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China introduced recent investment, fiscal and financial data and policies.
Let's take a quick look at the press conference——
-- In issuing ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, it is necessary to coordinate "hard investment" and "soft construction."
● The National Development and Reform Commission is studying and drafting the "Law on the Promotion of Private Economy" to promote the development of private investment.
● Strengthen financial support for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, and people with employment difficulties.
● In 2024, the central government will allocate a budget of 66.7 billion yuan for employment subsidies to support the implementation of employment and entrepreneurship support policies.
● Increase financial support for key areas and weak links of the national economy, such as inclusive finance, scientific and technological innovation, manufacturing, infrastructure, and private enterprises.
-- The mainland's monetary policy has sufficient policy space and abundant instrument reserves, and there is still room for the statutory reserve ratio to decline.
Investment
National Development and Reform Commission: The issuance of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds should coordinate "hard investment" and "soft construction"
The "Government Work Report" proposes that starting this year, it is planned to issue ultra-long-term special treasury bonds for several consecutive years, which will be specially used for the implementation of major national strategies and security capacity building in key areas. In accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Development and Reform Commission and relevant departments are to study and formulate specific plans, refine and improve the areas of support, and further clarify work requirements. The general consideration is to coordinate the "hard investment" and "soft construction" and concentrate efforts on solving some major problems in the process of building a strong country and national rejuvenation, so as to lay a solid foundation for the realization of the second centenary goal as scheduled.
After the Party Central Committee and the State Council approve the plan, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, will quickly do a good job in organizing and implementing the plan.
● On the one hand, focusing on key areas such as scientific and technological innovation, urban-rural integrated development, regional coordinated development, food and energy resource security, and high-quality population development, we will organize and carry out project planning and reserves, preliminary work and construction implementation, and support the construction of a number of high-quality projects.
●On the other hand, we should pay close attention to promoting the introduction and implementation of relevant supporting policies and measures, break down deep-seated obstacles through institutional and mechanism reforms, and form a joint force with the construction of major projects to ensure the high-quality implementation of various tasks.
Improve the efficiency of government investment, focus on the preliminary work, optimize the investment field, and strengthen the whole chain management
The Central Economic Work Conference pointed out that it is necessary to expand profitable investment. In addition to the 1 trillion yuan of treasury bonds issued last year, there are also 1 trillion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds this year, 700 billion yuan of investment in the central budget this year, and 3.9 trillion yuan of local government special bonds, the total scale of funds in these aspects exceeds 6 trillion yuan. Therefore, improving the efficiency of government investment and giving full play to the leading role of government investment in the whole society is a key and key point in this year's investment work.
● First, do a good job in the preliminary work. Supervise and urge relevant parties to strengthen project reserves, strengthen feasibility studies and other preliminary demonstrations, and improve the scientificity of investment decisions. At the same time, we will coordinate and increase the guarantee of land use, environmental impact assessment and other elements, and actively implement supporting financing.
The second is to optimize the investment field. Adjust and optimize the investment structure of the central budget, appropriately expand the scope of investment of local government special bonds and the scope of capital funds, and at the same time strengthen the overall cohesion and dislocation arrangements of various types of government investment, so as to form an overall synergy of various types of funds.
●The third is to strengthen the management of the whole chain. We will further improve various systems and regulations, and build a management mechanism covering the whole cycle and whole chain of government investment project planning and reserves, preliminary work, investment decision-making, construction and operation, supervision and inspection, etc., so as to promote the improvement of investment efficiency with refined management.
Promote the development of private investment with greater efforts and more practical measures
According to the project promotion platform to private capital, as of February 29, a total of 1,612 projects have attracted private capital participation, with a total investment scale of more than 2 trillion yuan.
In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, promote the development of private investment with greater efforts and more practical measures, focus on stabilizing and expanding private investment, and strive to maintain the steady growth trend of private investment.
●Improve the institutional environment so that private enterprises can "invest with peace of mind". At present, we are studying and drafting the "Law on the Promotion of Private Economy" to provide legal guarantees for better promoting the development of the private economy and create a stable and predictable institutional environment for private investment.
● Broaden the investment space, so that private enterprises "have to invest". The main purpose is to promote the implementation of the new mechanism of public-private cooperation between local governments and related industries, manage and make good use of the special projects for private investment guidance in the central budget, and encourage private enterprises to participate in the construction and operation of infrastructure and other projects to the greatest extent.
● Strengthen the guarantee of factors, so that private enterprises "invest well". Establish and make good use of the national database of key private investment projects, strengthen the financing and land use and other elements of private investment projects through mechanisms such as investment and loan linkage and land use guarantee for major projects, and promote the implementation of more private investment projects. At the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen the evaluation and scheduling of the work of promoting non-governmental investment, fully arouse the enthusiasm of local governments in encouraging the development of non-governmental investment, and promote the formation of a joint force in all sectors.
Financial
Ministry of Finance: Strengthen employment support for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, and people with employment difficulties
The Ministry of Finance will continue to promote the implementation of the employment-first strategy based on its financial functions, and strengthen employment support for key groups such as college graduates, migrant workers, and people with employment difficulties. This year, we will focus on the following aspects:
First, give more prominence to the priority orientation of employment. We should persist in taking the stabilization and expansion of employment as a priority goal of economic and social development, and pay more attention to promoting employment when formulating fiscal and taxation policies. In 2024, the central government will allocate a budget of 66.7 billion yuan for employment subsidies to support the implementation of employment and entrepreneurship support policies.
The second is to support business entities to stabilize jobs. It is mainly to implement the structural tax reduction and fee reduction policy, continue to implement the policy of reducing unemployment and work-related injury insurance rates in stages, and strive to reduce the cost burden of business entities. We will continue to implement the policy of returning unemployment insurance to stabilize jobs, and return the unemployment insurance premiums actually paid in the previous year in proportion to enterprises that do not lay off employees or lay off fewer employees, so as to support enterprises in stabilizing jobs and absorbing employment.
● The third is to help give full play to the role of entrepreneurship in driving employment. The financial department will give a discount on the loan interest rate applied for by the qualified key groups and small and micro enterprises that absorb their employment. To guide government financing guarantee institutions to increase the inclination of labor-intensive enterprises, we have made internal calculations and expect to leverage 1.3 trillion yuan of new loans in 2024, stabilize more than 12 million jobs, and drive more than 600,000 new jobs. Support colleges and universities to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship education, and enhance college students' innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities. Entrepreneurship subsidies will be given to eligible college graduates and persons with employment difficulties who set up small and micro enterprises for the first time or engage in self-employment.
Fourth, continue to focus on the employment of key groups. Encourage enterprises to increase recruitment, give social insurance subsidies to those who absorb key groups of employment, and give employment training subsidies to those who recruit qualified college graduates for employment and internship. The financial departments will give support to the implementation of the western plan, the "three support and one support" plan, the "special post plan", and the special plan for college students' village doctors, and encourage and guide college graduates to work at the grassroots level. At the same time, for eligible college graduates who go to work in hardship and remote areas, their tuition fees will be compensated. In addition, we will continue to provide classified employment assistance for people lifted out of poverty, low-income people in rural areas, and people with disabilities, so as to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation.
Create a first-class business environment, reduce the overall level of tariffs, protect intellectual property rights, and attract foreign investment
The Ministry of Finance has actively participated in building a first-class business environment and has made some positive progress. First, we will continue to reduce the overall level of tariffs. At present, the overall level of tariffs has been reduced to 7.3%, which is at the lowest level in the world. Second, we will actively participate in international tax reform, multilateral and bilateral financial exchanges and cooperation, learn from international best practices, and share China's experience in reform and opening up. Third, in government procurement, we treat the products and services produced by domestic and foreign-funded enterprises in China equally, and we have sorted out and rectified the regulations and practices that treat domestic and foreign-funded enterprises differently. Fourth, we pay attention to communication with foreign investors and enterprises, and actively solve the practical difficulties and problems they encounter in government procurement, enterprise-related taxes and fees, etc., we have a special mechanism, and will investigate and deal with it in a timely manner after receiving the information. Fifth, it has achieved mutual recognition of accounting standards and auditing standards with many countries, and supported cross-border investment, trade and financial activities. Sixth, we should increase the guarantee of financial funds in improving the protection of intellectual property rights, support the examination of patents and trademarks, and promote the use of intellectual property rights, so as to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in the whole chain.
Financial Sector
People's Bank of China: There is still room for the mainland's statutory reserve requirement ratio to fall
The mainland's monetary policy has sufficient policy space and abundant tool reserves, the statutory reserve ratio still has room to fall, the decline in deposit costs and the shift in monetary policy of major economies are conducive to broadening the autonomy of interest rate policy operations, and the establishment of scientific and technological innovation and technological transformation re-lending will help accelerate the development of high-end manufacturing and digital economy.
In the next stage, the prudent monetary policy will continue to be flexible, moderate, precise and effective, reasonably grasp the relationship between the two largest financing markets of bonds and credit, maintain reasonable and abundant liquidity, promote the steady and moderate decline of corporate financing and household credit costs, continue to do a good job in the "five major articles", increase efforts to revitalize the stock of financial resources, maintain the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level, and balance the relationship between short-term and long-term, steady growth and risk prevention, internal equilibrium and external equilibrium.
The total amount of credit continued to maintain steady and rapid growth, and the credit structure continued to be optimized
Since the beginning of this year, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has given full play to the dual functions of monetary policy tools in terms of total volume and structure, and guided financial institutions to increase support for key areas and weak links of the national economy, such as inclusive finance, scientific and technological innovation, manufacturing, infrastructure, and private enterprises, on the basis of strengthening credit support for the real economy.
In terms of aggregate volume, the total amount of credit continued to maintain a steady and relatively rapid growth. At the end of February, the balance of RMB loans of financial institutions was 243.96 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%. In the first two months, new loans amounted to 6.37 trillion yuan.
From a structural point of view, the credit structure continued to be optimized. There are the following highlights:
First, the growth of credit support for key industries of the national economy remained high. At the end of February, the balance of medium and long-term loans to the manufacturing industry increased by 28.3% year-on-year. Among them, the balance of medium and long-term loans for high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 26.5% year-on-year, the medium- and long-term loans for infrastructure industry increased by 14.0% year-on-year, and the balance of loans for high-tech, "specialized, special and new" and science and technology small and medium-sized enterprises increased by 14.2%, 18.5% and 21.4% year-on-year respectively, all of which were significantly higher than the growth rate of various loans of 10.1% in the same period, and the proportion of various loans further increased.
Second, more financial resources will flow to the weak links of the national economy. At the end of February, the balance of inclusive small and micro loans increased by 23.1% year-on-year, an increase of 1 trillion yuan in the first two months, an increase of 110.2 billion yuan year-on-year. At the end of February, the balance of agriculture-related loans increased by 14.5 percent year-on-year, 4.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of loans in the same period, and increased by 2.53 trillion yuan in the first two months, an increase of 170.8 billion yuan year-on-year. Loans to the private economy showed an increasing trend. At the end of February, the balance of loans to the private economy increased by 11.6% year-on-year, 1.5 percentage points higher than the growth rate of various loans in the same period.
■Source: Chinese government website
■编辑：欧帆、越玥、张阿嫱