Encouraging indicators ranging from tourism and box office revenues to the 
purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed that China's economy has gotten off to 
a good start in 2023.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted at last December's annual Central 
Economic Work Conference, Chinese economic work in 2023 will focus on expanding 
domestic demand, accelerating the building of a modern industrial system, 
working unswervingly to both develop the public sector and support the 
non-public sector, boosting foreign investment, and defusing major economic and 
financial risks.

Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China (CPC) 
Central Committee Thursday published Xi's article titled "Several Major Issues 
in Current Economic Work," which is part of Xi's important speech delivered at 
the annual Central Economic Work Conference on December 15, 2022.

Domestic demand expansion

Stressing insufficient demand is now the principal contradiction facing 
economic operation, Xi in the article pointed out efforts should be made to 
boost domestic demand by prioritizing the recovery and expansion of consumption 
and encouraging more private investment through government investment and 
policy incentives.

The article also called for stabilizing exports to developed countries and 
expanding exports to emerging market economies.

The consumption boom during Spring Festival holiday reflects the potential of 
domestic market and the dynamism of the Chinese economy.

During the week-long holiday, sales revenue of China's consumption-related 
sectors rose 12.2 percent from last year's Spring Festival holiday, which ran 
from January 31 to February 6, data from the State Taxation Administration 
showed.

According to the country's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, about 308 million 
domestic trips were made during this year's Spring Festival holiday, up 23.1 
percent year on year. Domestic tourism revenue generated during the week-long 
holiday totaled 375.8 billion yuan (around $55.52 billion), up 30 percent year 
on year.

The country's box office raked in 6.76 billion yuan (about $1 billion), the 
second-highest gross figure for the annual holiday, the China Film 
Administration said.

High-level opening-up

The article urged efforts to keep advancing high-level reform and opening-up 
and leverage the strengths of China's enormous market to attract global 
resources and production factors with China's strong domestic economy.

The Chinese president emphasized attracting and utilizing foreign capital 
through widening market access and fostering a world-class business environment 
to grant foreign-funded enterprises national treatment and improve services for 
foreign-funded enterprises.

China's foreign trade businesses have seen a surge in orders in the early days 
of 2023 with sounder COVID-19 response measures in effect. The PMI for China's 
manufacturing sector came in at 50.1 in January, returning to expansion after 
three consecutive months of contraction while the new orders index rose seven 
percentage points to 50.9 percent, data from the National Bureau of Statistics 
showed.

According to a recent report released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), 
China remains the top destination for global foreign direct investment (FDI) in 
Asia. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said the FDI in the Chinese mainland, in 
actual use, expanded 6.3 percent year on year to 1.23 trillion yuan in 2022. In 
U.S. dollar terms, the FDI inflow went up 8 percent year on year to $189.13 
billion.

In its latest update to the World Economic Outlook report, the International 
Monetary Fund (IMF) has lifted its forecast for China's economic growth in 2023 
to 5.2 percent from a previous prediction of 4.4 percent. Investment banks, 
including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, have also revised their growth 
forecasts for the world's second largest economy.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2023-02-15/Xi-Jinping-s-article-on-economic-work-to-be-published-1hrBXdN3cSA/index.html


SOURCE  CGTN