China decides to rely on ‘larger scale’ tax cuts and home market to weather stormy 2019
- Amid trade war with the United States, annual Central Economic Work Conference chaired by President Xi Jinping sets policy direction for next year
- Beijing says it will implement proactive fiscal and prudent monetary policy
China’s top leadership has decided to rely on deeper tax cuts and larger fiscal spending to manage economic headwinds in 2019, according to the official Xinhua News Agency on Friday.
The Xinhua summary contained the results of the key policy decisions from this week’s meeting of the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) in Beijing, a meeting of top Chinese officials chaired by President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese leadership concluded after a three-day closed door gathering that there are both “risks” and “opportunities” from recent changes in the external environment – a veiled reference to growing trade tensions with the United States – stressing that China’s good days are not over.
In response, China will “turn pressures into dynamism in promoting high-quality economic growth” by expanding domestic consumer spending, upgrading its vast manufacturing industry and increasing spending on infrastructure amid an increasingly hostile world.
“The world is facing a major change, the likes of which has not been seen in a century, and which includes both risks and opportunities [for China],” said the Chinese leadership.
“We must be good at turning risks into opportunities.”
