By Han Xin, People’s Daily
China has achieved leapfrog economic and social development over the past 70 years, said NingJizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) at the first press conference held by the Press Center for the Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China.
China has witnessed historic achievements and changes in various causes, especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in 2012, remarkedNing, who is also the head of the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS).
The press conference on promoting the stable, healthy and sustainable development of the Chinese economy was held.China’s Minister of Finance Liu Kun, and governor of the People’s Bank of China Yi Gang, also attended the conference, briefed the audienceand took questions from the press.
China has significantly liberated and developed its social productivity. The country’snational GDP has grown from 67.91 billion yuan in 1952 to 90.03 trillion yuan in 2018, representing a 174-fold increase in real terms.And per capita GDP has improved from 119 yuan to 64,600 yuan, which is a 7,000 percent increase in real terms. Besides,China’s per capita disposable income in 2018 was 59.2 times of that in 1949.
Ning stressed that China’s comprehensive national strength, social productivity and people’s living standards have greatly improved.
China has grown into the second largest economy, the largest trader of goods, the holder of the largest foreign exchange reserves, the second largest trader of service, the second largest user of foreign capital as well as the second largest outbound investor.
Over the past 70 years, China has realized coordinated economic, social and ecological progress, as well as synchronous development of industrialization, informatization, urbanization, and agricultural modernization.
Besides, the country’s fixed-asset investment also maintained rapid growthduring the past 7 decades.By the end of 2018, China’s operating mileages of railway and high speed rail reached 132,000 kilometers and 30,000 kilometers, ranking the second and the first in the world, respectively.
China’s contribution to global economy is prominent. Currently, China’s economic growth accounts for 30 percent of global growth, the highest in the world.
“During the past 70 years, China’s financial strength has been growingtogether withitspublic finance system,” said Liu. According to him,China’s fiscal revenue had increased by nearly 3,000 times from 6.2 billion yuan in 1950 to about 18.34 trillion yuan in 2018,with an average annual growth of 12.5 percent.
The “pie” of China’s financial system has been getting increasingly bigger, said Liu, noting that the country’s financial system is also seeing improving fairness and justice.The benefits of the country’s reform and development are being delivered to more and more people, he said.
According to Yi, at present, China has more than 4,500 banking sector financial institutions, over 130 securities companies, and 230 insurance companies.
The total assets in China’s financial industry has reached 300 trillion yuan, the world’s largest, to which the banking sector contributed 268 trillion yuan, said Yi.Besides, China’s foreign exchange reserve has reached $3.1 trillion, ranking first in the world for many years in a row.
In the face of sluggish global economic recovery and mounting external uncertainties, China will intensify its efforts at such aspects as expanding effective investment and boosting the consumption quality and capacity, so as to underpin the formation of a strong domestic market, Ning stressed.
“The scale of tax and fee cuts this year is unprecedented in the history of China’s fiscal policy,” said Liu, responding to the concern over the implementation of China’s policies on tax and fee cuts.
From January to July this year, China’s massive tax and fee cuts saved enterprises and individuals nearly 1.35 trillion yuan, disclosed Liu, adding that during the period, taxes were reduced by a total of 1.17 trillion yuan. The manufacturing industry is the largest beneficiary, whilein terms of sectors, the private economy got the lion’s share
China’s tax and fee reduction has effectively stimulated the dynamism of market entities, and reinforced market confidence and the momentum of economic growth.
An NBS survey on 311 enterprises in 9 Chinese provinces indicated thatover 70 percent of the funds released by the tax cut went to research and development, technical renovation, and expanding reproduction and reinvestment, which has significantly motivated enterprises to increase research and development input.
