China’s Government Work Report March 2016

See here a very well done overview, with many thanks to The World Bank office in Beijing that graciously distributed the Bloomberg overview.
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Key Points of China’s Government Work Report: Full Text

By Bloomberg NewsC/O World Bank
The following is the full text of a summary of China’s Report on the Work of the Government distributed 11 March 2016 at the annual meeting of the legislature in Beijing:

  1. China’s Economic and Social Development in 2015
  • The main tasks and targets for the year were fulfilled
  • Progress was achieved and stability ensured in economic and social development
  • GDP reached 67.7 trillion yuan, representing an increase of 6.7% over 2014–a growth rate faster than that of most other major economies
  • Consumer prices grew slowly
  • A total of 13.12 million new urban jobs were created
  • The service sector as a proportion of GDP rose to 50.5%
  • The contribution of consumption toward economic growth reached 66.4%
  • Energy consumption per unit of GDP fell by 5.6%
  • The number of newly registered businesses rose by 21.6%, or an average of 12,000 new businesses per day
  • Personal disposable income per capita increased by 7.4% in real terms
  • The number of rural residents living in poverty was reduced by 14.42 million
  1. Main Targets for 13th Five-Year Plan Period (2016-2020)
  • Double the 2010 GDP and per capita personal income.
  • Annual GDP growth: 6.5% or above.
  • R&D spending: 2.5% of GDP
  • Science and technology’s contribution to economic growth: 60%
  • Permanent urban residents: 60% of the total population.
  • Registered permanent urban residents: 45% of the total population.
  • High-speed railways in service:30,000 km, linking 80% of big cities.
  • Expressways built or upgraded: 30,000 km
  • Full coverage of access to broadband networks
  • Improvements to the environment
  • Water consumption per unit of GDP: Down 23%
  • Energy consumption per unit of GDP: down 15%
  • Carbon dioxide emissions: down 18%
  • Lift all rural residents falling below the poverty line out of poverty
  • New urban jobs: more than 50 million
  • Housing units rebuilt in rundown urban areas: 20 million
  1. Major Areas for Work 2016

3.1 Main development targets

  • GDP growth: 6.5%-7%
  • CPI increase: approx. 3%
  • New urban jobs: more than 10 million
  • Registered urban unemployment rate: within 4.5%
  • Steady increases in imports and exports
  • A basic balance in international payments
  • Increases in personal income basically in step with economic growth
  • Energy consumption per unit of GDP: down more than 3.4%
  • Further reductions in the release of major pollutants

3.2 Macroeconomic policies

  • Implement proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy
  • Deficit: 2.18 trillion yuan
  • Deficit-to-GDP ratio: 3%
  • Special bonds for local governments: 400 billion yuan
  • Continue to issue local government debt-converting bonds
  • Replace business tax with VAT in all sectors
  • M2 money supply growth: approx. 13%
  • Aggregate financing growth: approx. 13%
  • Reform the modern financial regulatory system
  • Keep the RMB exchange rate generally stable at an appropriate and balanced level

3.3 Supply-side structural reform

  • Cancel the requirement of government review for more matters
  • Pilot a negative list for market access
  • Implement the strategy of innovation-driven development
  • Encourage business startups and innovation
  • Strengthen protection of intellectual property rights
  • Address overcapacity in the steel and coal industries
  • Improve SOE performance
  • Diversity types of SOE equity
  • Protect the property rights of entities under all forms of ownership
  • Energize the non-public sector

3.4 Domestic demand

  • Support the growth of consumption in elderly care, health, housekeeping, education, training, cultural, and sports services
  • Strengthen the growth of emerging areas of consumption such as information goods and services, smart homes, and personalized fashion
  • Cut tariffs on some consumer goods
  • Increase the number of duty-free stores
  • Speed up tourism development
  • Invest more than 800 billion yuan in railway construction
  • Invest 1.65 trillion yuan in road construction
  • Start construction on 20 water conservancy projects
  • Develop hydropower, nuclear power, ultra high-voltage power transmission, smart grids, pipelines for oil and gas transmission, and urban rail transit
  • Improve the PPP model to stimulate private investment
  • Advance new urbanization
  • Grant urban residency to more people with rural household registration
  • Reform the household registration system
  • Implement the residence card system

3.5 Opening up

  • Move ahead with the Belt and Road Initiative
  • Promote innovation-driven development of foreign trade
  • Launch trials in the area of trade in services
  • Adopt a more proactive import policy
  • Increase the import of advanced technology and equipment, key spare parts and components, and energy and raw materials in short supply in China
  • Continue to relax market access restrictions on investment
  • Further open up the services sector and the general manufacturing sector
  • Simplify procedures for establishing overseas-funded enterprise
  • Establish more pilot free trade zones
  • Achieve greater industrial-capacity cooperation with other countries
  • Accelerate implementation of the free trade area strategy
  • Negotiate on the RCEP agreement
  • Negotiate on the China-Japan-ROK free trade agreement
  • Negotiate on investment agreements between China and the United States and between China and the European Union

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