Maintaining growth, curbing risks set to feature
Major topics such as GDP growth, structural adjustment and curbing economic risks are likely to feature at the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference, during which next year's key economic goals will be discussed, experts forecast on Thursday.
The conference, which will summarize China's economy in 2015 and raise general requirements as well as important targets for next year's economic work, is traditionally held in early or mid-December, Shanghai-based finance news portal yicai.com reported on Thursday.
On November 10, top leader Xi Jinping held the 11th meeting of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs in Beijing. A number of issues including the real estate industry, reducing enterprise costs and production overcapacity were discussed during the meeting.
The media report cited an unnamed source as saying that these issues are also likely to be discussed at the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference, and will form the basis of next year's economic work.
Another major topic will be economic risk prevention, Tian Yun, a research fellow with the China Society of Macroeconomics under the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Global Times on Thursday.
According to Tian, many areas in China are facing economic difficulties.
"A lot of enterprises have gone bankrupt and many local governments are unable to make ends meet. These economic risks, if not handled properly, might have more severe social consequences," Tian said. "The government should take measures to prevent that from happening."
Another important topic that might be raised at the conference is how China can maintain steady growth, Tian said.
Premier Li Keqiang noted during a forum on Tuesday that China's economic growth should be kept above 6.5 percent annually in the next five years so that the country can meet its target of developing a moderately prosperous society in all respects, according to an article published on the government's website Wednesday.
However, Xu Gao, chief economist with Shanghai-based Everbright Securities, said that it will not be easy to reach this growth level.
"The flourishing financial sector has been one of the main driving forces for this year's economic growth, but that is unlikely to last into the next few years. Therefore, the government should launch new measures to boost the domestic economy," Xu told the Global Times on Thursday.
Everbright Securities estimates that domestic GDP growth will reach about 6.8 percent for the fourth quarter and 6.9 percent for the whole year.
Domestic GDP rose by 7 percent in the first and second quarters, and by 6.9 percent in the third quarter.
According to the article published on yicai.com Thursday, both the central government and many local governments are "making a final spurt" to reach annual economic growth goals.
The report said a number of major infrastructure projects including railway and irrigation projects are proceeding smoothly, and that the effects of special government funds and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model will also emerge in the fourth quarter.
Tian said that another issue to be discussed at the coming conference is economic structural adjustment.
"Although the services industry is developing quickly in China, it should not be seen as an excuse to let the manufacturing industry decline," Tian noted.
Statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics on October 27 showed that major domestic industrial enterprises saw their profits slump 1.7 percent year-on-year in the first nine months this year.
Xi also noted during the 11th meeting of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs that reforms should be launched to deal with bloated production, especially the excessive inventories in the real estate sector.
Tian said that the government will need to increase financial expenditure in the future, but it's important that the spending should be directed toward improving people's livelihoods, especially migrant workers and people who are mired in poverty.
