SCIO briefing on China's economic performance in 2019
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 21, 2020
CNR:
We have noticed that 2020 is the decisive year for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. May I ask Mr. Ning, judging from the results of 2019, could you tell what progress has been made in this regard? In 2020, what areas will we work harder on? Thank you.
Ning Jizhe:
Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is our Party's first centenary goal. The past 2019 was a crucial year for the cause. After a year of efforts, new and significant progress has been made, especially with respect to the three major battles to overcome difficulties. Below I will specifically introduce the progress we have made in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.
First, the expansion of the economic aggregate and the growth of residents' income go hand in hand. In 2019, China's GDP increased by 6.1%, which works out to be an increase of nearly 7.2 trillion yuan. This is more than $1 trillion at the average annual exchange rate. As I said just now, China's economy is growing the fastest among economies with a value of more than $1 trillion, and our increase is equivalent to the economic aggregate of a moderately developed country in a year. Looking at each quarter of the year, the four quarters have increased by 6.4%, 6.2%, 6.0%, and 6.0% year-on-year. Looking back at the past few years, we can see GDP growth has remained between 6-7% for 18 consecutive quarters. The resilience of China's economic development continues to shine. This not only indicates that new progress has been made in expanding the economic aggregate when building up a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2019, but the economic development in 2019 also provides a strong guarantee for the decisive victory of our mission to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2020. In terms of the people's livelihood, in 2019, the per capita disposable income of China's residents exceeded 30,000 yuan, which also laid the foundation for the eventual completion of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects in 2020.
Second, outstanding results have been achieved in the fight against poverty. In 2019, poverty alleviation efforts reached a new level. Funds, projects, and measures in the areas facing deep poverty have increased. Poverty alleviation by industries, employment, education, and health have progressed steadily, and 340 counties have been removed from the list of poverty-stricken counties across the country. The task of poverty alleviation through relocation as outlined in the 13th Five-Year Plan has been completed. I have just introduced that, according to the latest statistics, 11.09 million of the rural poor across the country have been extricated from poverty. For the seventh consecutive year, the number of people who have escaped poverty has exceeded 10 million. According to current poverty standards, the number of the rural poor has dropped to 5.51 million by the end of 2019.
Third, the ecological environment continues to improve. In 2019, new achievements have been made in ecological protection and pollution prevention. According to preliminary calculations, the proportion of clean energy consumption in the total energy consumption over the whole year was about 24%, an increase of about a 1.0 percentage point over the previous year. The average number of days with excellent air quality in 337 cities at or above the prefecture level stood at 82%. The average concentration of fine particles, which is the PM2.5 in cities at or above the prefecture level which fail to meet the PM2.5 standards, decreased by 2.4% compared with the previous year. The proportion of the water quality categories 1 - 3 increased by 3.9 percentage points compared with the previous year, and the proportion of the five inferior water categories decreased by 3.3 percentage points.
Fourth, fiscal risks are controllable. In 2019, positive results were achieved in preventing and resolving major risks. China's macro-leverage ratio is basically stable, while its micro-leverage ratio has steadily decreased. I just introduced the asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size. In the field of finance, banks and financial institutions have low non-performing loan ratios, high provision coverage ratios, and relatively stable asset quality. At the end of November, the nation's local government debt balance stood at 21.3 trillion yuan, which was within the limits approved by the National People's Congress. The overall financial system is healthy and risks can be prevented and controlled.
Fifth, people's lives have continued to improve. In 2019, the improvement to people's livelihood guarantees has been strengthened. While promoting large-scale tax and fee reductions, governments at all levels have ensured that the people's livelihood expenditures have increased reasonably, social construction has achieved remarkable results, and the people's sense of gain, security, and happiness continues to increase. In terms of learning and teaching, the gross enrollment rate of pre-primary education has further increased from the base of 81.7% in the previous year, and the consolidation rate of the nine-year compulsory education has increased from a base of 94.2% in the previous year. In terms of income from work, the per capita of urban residents salary income now accounts for more than 60% of per capita disposable income, and the sum of per capita wage income and operational income of rural residents accounts for more than 70% of per capita disposable income. In terms of medical treatment, the number of people covered by basic medical insurance is now about 1.35 billion. In terms of elderly care, there are now 967 million people covered by a basic endowment insurance. I also introduced relevant data about living quarters and housing. Shantytown renovation and public rental housing construction have been further promoted. The per capita housing construction area of urban residents is now about 40 square meters. In terms of helping the weak and poor, the urban and rural minimum living guarantee standards have continued to increase.
This year is the decisive year for the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and also the final year for the 13th Five-Year Plan. While we have seen significant progress in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, we also need to ensure that we must succeed this year and overcome the toughest of difficulties. It is necessary to build on the existing foundation, strengthen our determination to win, highlight the key points, make up for shortcomings, strengthen area of weakness, and ensure that the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is successfully completed.
First, we must implement a proactive fiscal policy and a sound monetary policy, as well as strong employment, industry-related, and regional policies. We need to ensure that the economy operates within a reasonable range, and we must achieve a reasonable increase in volume and a steady improvement in quality. Second, we must continue to promote supply-side structural reforms, accelerate reforms in key areas such as state-owned enterprises, state-owned assets and finance, and continue to promote coordinated regional development. The third aspect is to resolutely fight the three major difficulties. We shall concentrate our forces to fight the battle to eradicate deep poverty, continually consolidate the results of poverty alleviation, fight the pollution control war, and focus on the battle to reclaim the blue sky, clear water, and clean land. It is also necessary to improve the risk management mechanism and do a good job of preventing and controlling the risks at the source. The fourth aspect is to unswervingly implement the new development concept. We will continue to implement the innovation-driven development strategy, continue to stimulate the endogenous power and innovation vitality of economic development, continue to promote high-quality economic development, and achieve a steady improvement in economic quality. Fifth, we must ensure that the people's livelihoods, especially the basic living needs of people in need and facing difficulties, are effectively guaranteed and improved. We will strengthen the social security guarantees of the needy, maintain employment stability, and boost efforts to make up for the shortcomings in aspects affecting people's livelihood such as in education, medical care, and housing.
Thank you.
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