Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 30th
Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council presided over an executive meeting of the State Council on March 29, requesting to consolidate the detailed measures of responsibility and resolutely prevent major and extraordinarily serious safety accidents; deploy and use government bonds to expand effective investment, and promote short-term growth and stable economic growth; Start a number of water conservancy projects with mature conditions to improve water resources security and disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities.
At the beginning of the meeting, all the comrades stood up and paid a moment of silence to the compatriots who died in the flight accident of China Eastern Airlines MU5735 aircraft. The meeting called for implementing the arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, doing a good job in aftermath work such as comforting and paying the victims’ families, and seeking truth from facts to find out the cause of the accident. To comprehensively strengthen production safety, the State Council Safety Committee should further make specific arrangements, strengthen guidance and supervision, consolidate the responsibilities of all parties, conduct in-depth investigation and rectification of potential safety hazards, and effectively safeguard the safety of people’s lives and property.
The meeting pointed out that the current international situation is becoming more complex and severe, domestic development is facing new challenges, and the downward pressure on the economy is further increasing. When formulating this year’s macro policy, we have already considered many changes in the domestic and foreign environment. Keeping the economy running smoothly in the first quarter and the first half of the year is crucial to achieving the full-year target. We must promptly implement the spirit of the Central Economic Work Conference and the measures of the “Government Work Report”, strengthen our confidence, set our goals firmly, and put stable growth in a more prominent position. We should not take measures that are not conducive to stabilizing market expectations, and formulate plans to deal with greater uncertainty.
The meeting pointed out that making good use of government bonds to expand effective investment is an important measure to drive consumption to expand domestic demand and promote stable employment growth. In accordance with the principle of keeping the macro leverage ratio basically stable, 3.65 trillion yuan of new local government special bonds will be added this year. In order to strengthen the cyclical adjustment, 1.46 trillion yuan was released in advance according to the law at the end of last year. In the next step, first, we must promptly release the remaining special debt quota, and tilt it towards regions with strong solvency and sufficient reserves of projects. The quota issued in advance last year will be issued before the end of May, and the quota issued this year will be issued before the end of September. Second, we must give better play to the effectiveness of special debt. Adhere to the benefits of both the current and the long-term, increase investment in areas such as improving people’s livelihood and making up for shortcomings, and support the construction of new infrastructure and other projects that will increase stamina and improve. Reasonably expand the scope of use of special bonds, and support public services and other projects with certain benefits on the basis of projects in the fields of transportation, energy, ecological environmental protection, and affordable housing projects. Adhere to the funds to follow the project, speed up the project start and construction, and form a physical workload as soon as possible. Thirdly, we should use reform measures and market methods to give full play to the role of special debts in “distributing a thousand pounds” to attract more investment from social capital and support private enterprise investment. Fourth, it is necessary to strengthen the management of funds, prevent precipitation and idleness, and strictly prohibit the construction of buildings and image projects in violation of regulations. Fifth, we must coordinate the issuance of national debt and local government bonds, maintain a reasonable scale of treasury funds, ensure that the grassroots implement the policy of tax rebates, tax reductions and fee reductions and the financial resources needed to benefit people’s livelihood, and prevent debt risks. Encourage overseas medium and long-term funds to purchase government bonds, and implement relevant preferential tax policies. The financial system should strengthen cooperation to ensure the orderly issuance of treasury bonds and support project construction financing.
The meeting pointed out that water conservancy projects are livelihood projects, development projects and safety projects. This year, a batch of projects that have been included in the plan and have mature conditions will be started, including major water diversion projects such as the follow-up project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, key flood control and disaster reduction, reinforcement of dangerous reservoirs, construction and renovation of irrigation areas and other projects. These projects, together with other water conservancy projects, can complete the annual investment of about 800 billion yuan. Meeting requirements to ensure the quality of the project and ensure the safety of project operation.
The meeting also studied other matters.