Full Text: Report on China's economic, social development plan(7)

8. Reform and opening up continued to deepen.

New progress was made in key areas and crucial links of reform. Tasks of reforming the system of collective forest tenure was basically completed in 25 provinces, the trial reform of state-owned forestry farms began, and reform of the construction and management system of water conservancy projects proceeded smoothly. The reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) was further deepened, substantial progress was made in the reform to spin off secondary businesses of power grid operators from their primary business, and the trials for integrating the telecommunications network, the radio and television broadcasting network, and the Internet, were extended to all municipalities directly under the central government, capitals of all provinces and autonomous regions, and other eligible cities. We formulated and introduced the policy to support and stimulate development of small and micro enterprises, and further improved the institutional environment for development of the non-public sector of the economy. The reform of resource product prices progressed steadily, the plan for comprehensively regulating prices of thermal coal and electricity and the guidelines on introducing progressive pricing for household electricity consumption on a trial basis were introduced, trial reform of the natural gas pricing mechanism was launched in some areas, and the reform of water prices and the pilot project of a cap-and-trade scheme for emissions proceeded in an orderly manner. The framework for a national basic medical insurance system was set up; the system for basic drugs was basically applied to all urban and rural community-based medical and health care institutions run by the government; and steady progress was made in the trial reform of public hospitals. The revised interim regulations on resource taxes were promulgated and implemented, and the plan for reforming personal income taxes was put into practice. A financial policy framework of macro-prudential regulation was gradually established; a dynamic, differentiated required reserve ratio adjustment mechanism was implemented; systems and mechanisms for corporate governance that are suitable for modern banks were constantly improved; and the scope of using the RMB as a settlement currency for cross-border trade and investment was extended to cover the whole country. Substantial progress was made in turning state-owned theater troupes into corporations; the reform of publishers of newspapers and periodicals that do not cover current affairs and politics was started; and pilot projects to reform the education system proceeded smoothly. Positive results were made in developing experimental zones for carrying out integrated, complete reforms.

The openness of the economy continued to increase. Export and import trade is becoming balanced. Total trade volume came to US$3.6421 trillion, an increase of 22.5%, among which exports reached $1.8986 trillion, up 20.3%; imports totaled $1.7435 trillion, up 24.9%; and our trade surplus totaled $155.1 billion, down $26.4 billion from the previous year. We continued to optimize the structure of foreign investment utilization. Utilized non-financial foreign direct investment in 2011 totaled $116 billion, up 9.7%, among which foreign investment utilized by the service sector increased 20.5%. Disbursed foreign loans reached $25.2 billion, an increase of 23%. The strategy of encouraging Chinese enterprises to "go global" progressed steadily. Non-financial direct investment overseas for the year amounted to $60.1 billion, basically the same as the previous year; and receipts from overseas contracting projects reached $103.4 billion, an increase of 12.2%.