The Information Office of the State Council held a press conference on March 21, at which Liu Sushe, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, Liao Min, vice minister of finance, and Xuan Changneng, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, introduced recent investment, fiscal and financial related data and policies.

Greater efforts should be made to attract and utilize foreign investment

Liu Sushe, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that improving the efficiency of government investment and giving full play to the leading role of government investment is the key to this year's investment work. The Action Plan takes practical measures to attract foreign investment from the aspects of expanding market access, smoothing the flow of innovative elements, and aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules.

First, we need to further broaden the space for foreign investment. The Action Plan proposes to expand market access and raise the level of liberalization of foreign investment. A new version of the negative list for foreign investment access has been introduced, restrictions on foreign investment access will continue to be reduced, and pilot projects will be carried out in areas such as medical care and value-added telecommunications, which are of great concern to foreign-funded enterprises. More qualified foreign-funded institutions will be supported to carry out business in the fields of banking and insurance, bond funds, etc.

Second, we need to further optimize the business environment. The Action Plan proposes to optimize the level playing field and provide services to foreign-invested enterprises. Promote the implementation and effectiveness of relevant policies, issue rules for fair competition review in the field of bidding and bidding, and strive to eliminate problems such as local protection and ownership discrimination; The government has issued standards for government procurement of domestic products, requiring that products produced by domestic and foreign-funded enterprises that meet the standards be treated equally in government procurement activities.

Third, we need to further improve the facilitation of cross-border flow of factors. The Action Plan proposes to smooth the flow of innovation elements and promote innovation cooperation between domestic and foreign enterprises. In terms of business personnel exchanges, the Action Plan clearly states that for the management and technical personnel of foreign-funded enterprises, as well as their accompanying spouses and minor children, the validity period of visas will be relaxed to 2 years, and will facilitate the work, residence and permanent residence of foreign talents in China. In terms of data flow, the Action Plan will promote the safe and orderly cross-border transmission of data on R&D, production and sales of foreign-funded enterprises, and will formulate data transfer standards in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to achieve convenient data flow within the Greater Bay Area.

Guide government financing guarantee institutions to increase the preference for labor-intensive enterprises

Liao Min, vice minister of finance, said at a press conference that the country's general public budget expenditure increased by 6.7% year-on-year from January to February, completing 15.3% of the annual budget. Guide government financing guarantee institutions to increase the inclination of labor-intensive enterprises this year.

Support business entities to stabilize jobs. The main thing is to implement the structural tax reduction and fee reduction policy, continue to implement the policy of reducing unemployment and work-related injury insurance rates in stages, and strive to reduce the cost burden of business entities. We will continue to implement the policy of returning unemployment insurance to stabilize jobs, and return the unemployment insurance premiums actually paid in the previous year in proportion to enterprises that do not lay off employees or reduce layoffs, so as to support enterprises in stabilizing jobs and absorbing employment.

This year, the financial department will focus on the guaranteed loans applied for by eligible key groups and small and micro enterprises that absorb their employment, and the financial department will give loan interest discounts. To guide government financing guarantee institutions to increase the inclination of labor-intensive enterprises, we have made an internal calculation, which is expected to leverage 1.3 trillion yuan of new loans in 2024, stabilize more than 12 million jobs, and drive more than 600,000 new jobs.

Support colleges and universities to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship education, and enhance college students' innovation and entrepreneurship capabilities. Entrepreneurship subsidies will be given to eligible college graduates and persons with employment difficulties who set up small and micro enterprises for the first time or engage in self-employment.

Guide banks to lower deposit interest rates and promote the LPR to continue to decline

Xuan Changneng, deputy governor of the central bank, said at the meeting that in the next stage, China's monetary policy has sufficient policy space and rich tool reserves, the statutory reserve ratio still has room to decline, and the downward trend in deposit costs and the shift in monetary policy of major economies are conducive to broadening the operational autonomy of interest rate policy. More attention should be paid to guiding financial institutions to provide credit smoothly and avoid a "good start" rushing too violently, resulting in a lack of stamina.

This year's expected target is GDP growth of about 5 percent, consumer price growth of about 3 percent, and if the scale of social financing and M2 growth rate are not less than 8 percent, the expected target of 3 percent price level has been considered.

From the perspective of price, by deepening the market-oriented reform of interest rates, guiding banks to lower deposit interest rates, and promoting the loan prime rate (LPR) to continue to decline, these are conducive to reducing the comprehensive financing cost of society, stimulating potential consumption, expanding effective investment, maintaining price stability, and promoting a moderate recovery in prices.