China’s Premier Li eyes ‘combination of punches’ during critical economic juncture
- Premier Li Qiang meets with experts at symposium as Beijing continues trying to shore up investor confidence and boost consumption
- Meeting comes as State Council has initiated a mechanism to ensure regular dialogues with private and foreign investors
While not revealing any specific policy details, Beijing has pledged to timely release a new batch of targeted and concerted measures to stabilise the national economy, with market concerns having jumped over the slowing of China’s post-Covid recovery and as investor sentiment worsens.
Premier Li Qiang made the comments at a symposium with experts on Thursday afternoon to assess the current economic condition. The State Council also initiated a mechanism to ensure regular dialogues with private and foreign investors.
“We should focus on implementing a ‘combination of punches’ in policymaking, centred around stable growth, employment and risk prevention,” Li was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.
He also called for the prompt implementation of targeted, comprehensive and concerted policy measures, as China is currently at a “critical juncture” of economic recovery and industrial upgrading, with a complex intertwining of structural issues and cyclical contradictions.
“It is important to establish and improve regular communication and exchange mechanisms between the government and various types of enterprises, including private and foreign-invested enterprises,” Li reportedly said.
The market has been expecting strong supportive policies to speed up sluggish economic growth that has been suppressed by strong internal and external headwinds, including weak confidence in the private sector, a curtailed property market, record-high youth unemployment and weak export demand, amid a weakening of the yuan against the US dollar.
