China will continue to adopt an active fiscal policy to maintain its stable and sustained economic development as its response to the bleak world economic outlook, according to Chinese Vice Finance Minister Jin Liqun yesterday at a press conference in the Shanghai International Media Center sponsored by the APEC 2001 Preparatory Committee.

Without an active fiscal policy, the country may see 2-3 percent of year-on-year GDP increase this year, Jin said acknowledging that China has felt the chill of the sliding world economy with a drop in exports that may drop sharply in the future.

Jin said during the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) China will not change its active fiscal policy. To boost the domestic investment demand, China will issue a certain amount of state treasury, which will be used more efficiently -- mainly in human capacity building, education, and environmental protection.

The potential for China to implement its active fiscal policy is huge, and the policy should be gradually removed under the condition that the consumer index shows an upward trend, the private fund becomes the main support of investment in China and improvement in international economic environment is gained.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's economy grew by 7.6 per cent during the first three quarters of this year compared with the same time last year. Preliminary figures suggest that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 6.7 trillion yuan (US$810 billion) from January to September.

(china.org.cn by Guo Xiaohong, staff reporter October 19, 2001)