Zhang Liqun: Effective measures should be taken to consolidate the foundation for the economy to improve

Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Macroeconomic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said on October 31 that the PMI index continued to fall below the boom-bust line in October, indicating that the downward pressure on the economy has increased. The order index is all below the boom-bust line, except for the new export order index, other order indexes continue to fall; about one-third of the surveyed enterprises listed insufficient demand as the biggest difficulty, indicating that the lack of demand has more prominent constraints on the production of enterprises. The purchase price index continues to rise rapidly, indicating that the cost pressure of enterprises has further increased; the ex-factory price index has also increased to a certain extent, suggesting that we should be vigilant against the trend of transmission from the price of means of production to the price of living materials. The index of purchase volume, raw material inventory, and expectations for future production and operation activities continued to decline, indicating that enterprises are more cautious in expectations.

Zhang Liqun said that the current problems of insufficient domestic demand and the periodic shortage of energy and raw material supply have strengthened the constraints on the production activities of enterprises. Effective measures should be taken as soon as possible to boost domestic demand, smooth the supply chain and industrial chain, effectively improve the production and operation conditions of enterprises, and strive to consolidate the foundation for sustained economic recovery.