II.   Overall Requirements and Policy Orientation for Economic and Social Development in 2022

 

This year is of great significance in the cause of the Party and the country, as the Communist Party of China will hold its 20th National Congress. For the government to deliver, we must, under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, do the following:

• follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era;

• implement the guiding principles of the Party’s 19th National Congress and all plenary sessions of the 19th Party Central

   Committee;

• carry forward the great founding spirit of the Party;

• act on the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability;

• apply the new development philosophy in full, in the right way, and in all fields of endeavor and move faster to create a new

    pattern of development;

• deepen reform and opening up in all respects;

• pursue innovation-driven development;

• promote high-quality development;

• advance supply-side structural reform as the main task;

• respond to Covid-19 and pursue economic and social development in a well-coordinated way;

• ensure both development and security;

• continue to ensure stability on six key fronts and maintain security in six key areas;

• keep working to improve people’s lives;

• strive to maintain stable macroeconomic performance;

• keep major economic indicators within an appropriate range; and

• maintain overall social stability.

 

These efforts will enable us to pave the way for a successful 20th National Party Congress.

 

A comprehensive analysis of evolving dynamics at home and abroad indicates that this year our country will encounter many more risks and challenges, and we must keep pushing to overcome them. The harder things get, the more confident we must be, and the more solid steps we must take to deliver outcomes.

 

The fundamentals of our economy remain unchanged, and they will maintain long-term growth. We have many favorable conditions for sustaining development. Most notably, our people, in their hundreds of millions, aspire to a better life, have huge potential for starting businesses and engaging in innovation, and are resolved to overcome all difficulties together. We have also acquired a wealth of experience in dealing with major risks and challenges. There is no doubt but that China’s economy will withstand any new downward pressure and continue growing steadily long into the future.

 

The main projected targets for development this year are as follows:

• GDP growth of around 5.5 percent

• over 11 million new urban jobs

• a surveyed urban unemployment rate of no more than 5.5 percent

• CPI increase of around 3 percent

• growth in personal income that is basically in step with economic growth

• steady increases in both the volume and quality of imports and exports

• a basic equilibrium in the balance of payments

• grain output of over 650 million metric tons

• further improvement in the environment

• continued reduction in the discharge of major pollutants

• energy consumption per unit of GDP to be assessed with appropriate flexibility within the framework of the 14th Five-Year Plan;

   and the exclusion of newly added renewable energy and coal, petroleum, and natural gas consumed as raw materials in the

   total amount of energy consumption.

 

The above economic growth target is based mainly on the need to maintain stable employment, meet basic living needs, and guard against risks. This target is also in keeping with the average growth rates of the last two years and the goals of the 14th Five-Year Plan. It represents a medium-high rate of growth given our large economic aggregate, and demonstrates our ability to move proactively. But achieving this goal will require arduous efforts.

 

To fulfill the development goals and tasks for the year, we should pursue prudent and effective macro policies, micro policies that can continuously energize market entities, and structural policies that facilitate smooth flows in the economy. Science and technology policies should be fully implemented, reform and opening up policies should lend impetus to development, regional policies should ensure more balanced and coordinated development, and social policies should meet basic living needs. All of us involved must adopt detailed and effective measures to meet these major policy requirements and create synergy for driving growth.

 

Macro policies should be kept consistent and made more effective. The proactive fiscal policy should be more effectual, more targeted, and more sustainable. The prudent monetary policy should be both flexible and appropriate, with reasonably ample liquidity being maintained. The employment-first policy should be pursued with intensified efforts to deliver the desired outcomes. These policies should produce effects early on, and the policy tools we have in reserve should be promptly deployed to ensure stable economic performance.

 

We will continue effective routine Covid-19 control. To prevent inbound cases and domestic resurgences, we need to constantly refine epidemic containment measures, strengthen epidemic controls in port-of-entry cities, step up efforts to study and protect against virus variants, accelerate R&D of new vaccines and effective medicines, continue implementing vaccination programs, and give full play to the unique role of traditional Chinese medicine. Occurrences of local cases must be handled in a scientific and targeted manner, and the normal order of work and life must be ensured.

 

In our work this year, we must make economic stability our top priority and pursue progress while ensuring stability. In the face of new downward pressure, the task of ensuring stable growth needs to occupy an even more prominent position. All localities and government departments should fulfill their responsibilities for maintaining stable macroeconomic performance by proactively introducing pro-stability policies.

 

We should take coordinated moves to keep growth stable, promote structural adjustment, and carry out reform. We should work faster to transform the growth model, and say no to an extensive development model. We should follow a fact-based approach, and bear in mind the fundamental dimension of China’s national context, that is, it is still in the primary stage of socialism. We should manage our own affairs well, and respect the laws of development, the reality on the ground, and the needs of the people.

 

We should work in creative ways in light of actual conditions and motivate all stakeholders to pursue development endeavors. We should promote both an efficient market and a well-functioning government, and we should be adept at using reform and innovation to boost market dynamism and social creativity. We must act on the people-centered development philosophy and rely on the efforts of everyone to promote prosperity for all, so as to keep realizing the people’s aspirations for a better life.