China will continue to adopt an active fiscal policy to maintain
its stable and sustained economic development as its response to
the bleak world economic outlook, according to Chinese Vice Finance
Minister Jin Liqun yesterday at a press conference in the Shanghai
International Media Center sponsored by the APEC 2001 Preparatory
Committee.
Without an active fiscal policy, the country may see 2-3 percent of
year-on-year GDP increase this year, Jin said acknowledging that
China has felt the chill of the sliding world economy with a drop
in exports that may drop sharply in the future.
Jin said during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) China will not
change its active fiscal policy. To boost the domestic investment
demand, China will issue a certain amount of state treasury, which
will be used more efficiently -- mainly in human capacity building,
education, and environmental protection.
The potential for China to implement its active fiscal policy is
huge, and the policy should be gradually removed under the
condition that the consumer index shows an upward trend, the
private fund becomes the main support of investment in China and
improvement in international economic environment is gained.
According to the National Bureau
of Statistics, China's economy grew by 7.6 per cent during the
first three quarters of this year compared with the same time last
year. Preliminary figures suggest that the country's gross domestic
product (GDP) rose to 6.7 trillion yuan (US$810 billion) from
January to September.
(china.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, staff reporter October 19, 2001)