Experts speculate on Central Work Conference agenda
12 December, 2018
The Central Economic Work Conference, the annual meeting that sets the national agenda for the Chinese economy for the year ahead, will likely choose a more proactive fiscal policy, according to a banking official, Yicai.com reported.
Huang Jianhui, director of the research institute of China Minsheng Bank, predicts that the upcoming meeting will set the tone between “stabilizing growth, structural reform and risk prevention.”
The government will adopt a more proactive fiscal policy, continue to stimulate demands to prop up growth while deepening supply-side reform, Huang said.
Zhang Jun, chief economist at Morgan Stanley Huaxin Securities, thinks monetary policy is unlikely to be further loosened.
The central bank tends to drain short-term liquidity, while injecting long-term liquidity to release more affordable medium- and long-term funds, so as to increase banks’ willingness to expand lending, he said.
Zhang also pointed out that amid the backdrop of a more proactive fiscal policy, it is expected that the fiscal-to-GDP ratio, the issuance of local government bonds and the scale of tax and fee cuts, will increase next year.