China’s top leaders are charting a bold economic course for 2025. Under the guidance of President Xi Jinping, who also serves as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, the Political Bureau convened on Monday to map out strategies aimed at bolstering the nation’s economy and social development in the coming year.
Expressing full confidence in achieving the main goals for 2024, the meeting emphasized the importance of building confidence and ensuring success. President Xi highlighted China’s solid economic foundation, noting its numerous advantages, strong resilience, and vast potential. He affirmed that the fundamentals for long-term positive development remain unchanged.
Recent policy measures, including cuts to the reserve requirement ratio and tax reductions, have shown continuous positive effects. The financial markets have responded enthusiastically, with both stock and bond markets experiencing rapid and positive responses at the start of the fourth quarter. Notably, October’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 50.1%, marking a return to expansion for the first time in five months.
Looking ahead to 2025, the meeting called for more proactive and impactful macroeconomic policies. This includes adopting a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy, signaling the first easing stance since 2010. The leaders stressed the need to enrich and improve the policy toolkit, strengthen unconventional countercyclical adjustments, and enhance coordination across various policies to make macro-regulation more forward-looking and effective.
The plans aim to vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand across the board. Additionally, China intends to broaden high-standard opening-up, stabilize foreign trade and investment, and effectively prevent and defuse risks in key sectors to avoid systemic issues.
Economists like Zhang Jun from China Galaxy Securities interpret these policy shifts as a strong commitment to stabilizing economic growth. With predictions from the International Monetary Fund positioning China as the top contributor to global economic growth over the next five years, these developments hold significant importance both domestically and internationally.
President Xi encapsulated the nation’s spirit by stating, “We have always developed by overcoming challenges, grown up in the baptism of wind and rain, and become stronger in the face of tests.”
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
