BEIJING (Reuters) – China has “relatively plenty” policy tools in reserve to cope with a challenging year ahead and will roll out these measures in a timely manner to stabilise growth, the country’s state planner said on Tuesday.
Yuan Da, spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission, told a news conference the government will quickly roll out policy measures to boost domestic demand, and study targeted measures to bolster industrial production.
The world’s second-largest economy rebounded in 2021 with its best growth in a decade, helped by robust exports, but momentum is slowing on weakening consumption, weighed down by repeated COVID-19 outbreaks, and a property downturn.
“We will continue to step up monitoring and forecasting of the economy and study the policy tools in reserve, and roll out timely, relevant policy measures based on the need from the economic operations to ensure a stable, healthy and sustainable economic development,” Yuan said.
China’s central bank unexpectedly cut on Monday the borrowing costs of its medium-term loans for the first time since April 2020, with some market analysts expecting more policy easing this year to cushion an economic slowdown.
Yuan acknowledged that the economy faces many challenges in 2022, including weak consumption, constrained growth in investment, and uncertainties in foreign trade, which has led to fluctuations in market expectations and corporate confidence.
The regulator approved 90 fixed-asset investment projects in 2021 worth a total of 775.4 billion yuan ($122.20 billion).
($1 = 6.3454 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Shen Yan, Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Kim Coghill and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
