Source: Securities Times

1. The Politburo meeting of the Central Committee held a few days ago pointed out that China's economy had a good start in the first quarter. How does the National Development and Reform Commission view this “report card”? Can the expected annual economic growth target of 5% be achieved?

Since this year, China's economy has continued its upward trend. The economic growth rate has been rising steadily, structural adjustments have been steadily progressing, quality and efficiency have been steadily improved, people's livelihood has been strongly guaranteed, and overall market expectations have improved. It has achieved a steady start and a good start. It can be graphically stated that it has achieved a “good start.” Such an excellent “report card” can be reflected in reality from national to local, macro to micro.

From a macroeconomic perspective, growth in the main indicators is accelerating. GDP grew 5.3% year on year in the first quarter, 0.1 and 0.8 percentage points higher than the previous quarter and the same period last year, respectively. Industrial value added increased by 6%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points over the previous quarter; fixed asset investment increased by 4.5%, an increase of 1.5 percentage points over the full year of last year; the import and export volume of goods denominated in RMB increased by 5%, with exports increasing by 4.9%, an increase of 4.1 percentage points over the previous quarter.

Judging from regional development, the regional economy is stable and improving. Eastern economic provinces such as Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Zhejiang continue to “take the lead”, and the economies of the three major power sources of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are growing rapidly. Industries in the central and western regions have accelerated transformation and upgrading. High-tech manufacturing in Anhui and Hubei grew by 23.4% and 21.5% respectively, and investment in high-tech industries in Sichuan increased by 17.7%, all far faster than the national level. A number of major projects were implemented at an accelerated pace in Northeast China, and fixed asset investment increased by 9.6%, 5.1 percentage points faster than the national level.

From the perspective of industry enterprises, operating efficiency and confidence and vitality have been steadily improving. The total profit of industrial enterprises above scale increased 4.3% year-on-year in the first quarter. The manufacturing PMI in April was 50.4%, which was above the boom and bust line for two consecutive months. Among them, large, medium and small enterprises were above the critical point. New products and new business formats are booming. Production of intelligent green products such as 3D printing equipment, service robots, and new energy vehicles increased by 40.6%, 26.7%, and 29.2% respectively in the first quarter. Instant retail sales and live streaming led to an 11.6% increase in online retail sales of physical products.

Looking at residents' lives, employment income continues to improve. In the first quarter, 3.03 million new urban jobs were added, an increase of 60,000 over the previous year; the unemployment rate in the March urban survey was 5.2%, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month and the same period last year. In the first quarter, the country's per capita disposable income actually increased by 6.2%, 0.9 percentage points faster than the economic growth rate. Among them, the income of urban and rural residents increased by 5.3% and 7.7% respectively.

The plan for the year lies in spring. How the economy “picks up” at the beginning can have a great impact on the trend throughout the year. Overall, a good start and a positive recovery are the basic characteristics and trends of China's current economic operation. Positive factors have increased, momentum continues to increase, social expectations have improved, and high-quality development has progressed steadily, laying a solid foundation for achieving the goals for the whole year. In the next step, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, we will continue to take advantage of the momentum, avoid falling back and forth, accelerate the implementation of various planned arrangements and see results in response to outstanding contradictions in the operation of the economy, strengthen policy research reserves and promote timely introduction according to the needs of the situation, effectively consolidate and enhance the positive trend of economic recovery, and complete the target tasks for the whole year with high quality.

2. The Politburo meeting of the Central Committee emphasized the need to unswervingly deepen reforms, expand opening-up, and build a unified national market. Can you give us a brief overview of the progress and next steps related to the construction of a unified national market?

Accelerating the construction of a unified national market is an inevitable requirement for unblocking the domestic cycle and promoting the construction of a new development pattern. It is also an important gripper for unleashing the potential of domestic demand and driving the economy to continue to improve. According to the arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission and relevant parties have established and used coordination mechanisms to promote national unified market construction departments, stepped up efforts to implement various tasks, and played a positive role in improving the market environment and social expectations. Specific developments are reflected in the “five unifications” and the “three standards.”

The “Five Unifications” are to accelerate the unification of market systems, facilities, supervision, etc. by further promoting key tasks of efficient market connectivity. First, the basic market system has been more unified and improved. The negative market access list items have been reduced from 151 items in the 2018 edition to the current 117 items, fair competition review rules in the field of bidding and bidding have been introduced, and systems such as property rights protection, market access, fair competition, and social credit have been improved at an accelerated pace. Second, market facilities have become more unified and unobstructed. Policies such as “one single system” for multimodal transport and public resource transactions have been introduced, facilities such as modern distribution networks and market information exchange channels have continued to be optimized, and the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP has dropped to 14.4%. Third, the unification of the factor resource market has taken greater steps. An online trading service platform for the national land secondary market has been launched and operated, some regions have achieved mutual recognition of job titles between regions, opinions have been issued on constructing a data infrastructure system to better play the role of data elements, and the flow of factors such as land, labor, capital, technology, and data has become smoother. Fourth, the commodity service market has been unified and moved to a higher level. The national 12315 consumer complaint information disclosure platform has been launched, and quality standards and other systems have been continuously improved. Fifth, market supervision is fairer and more unified, and regulations have been introduced to stop abuses of administrative power to exclude and restrict competition. From 2022 to 2023, 45 unreasonable fines in administrative regulations and departmental regulations will be cleared up and abolished.

The “three norms” are to regulate improper market competition and market intervention by continuously breaking down outstanding issues such as local protection and market segmentation. The first is to establish a system for rectifying the problem of improper interference in the construction of a unified national market and reporting system for typical cases, and publish a list of matters to prevent improper interference in the construction of a unified national market. The second is to carry out verification and rectification of clues that hinder the construction of a unified national market, promote special rectification in key areas such as engineering construction and bidding, and solve a number of practical problems for business entities. The third is to push relevant parties to sort out the current effective rules and policies involving the economic activities of business entities, and revise or abolish a number of policy measures that hinder a unified market and fair competition.

Through the joint efforts of all parties, the results of the work to build a unified national market are gradually showing. In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, work with relevant parties to carry out a series of actions to build a unified national market to promote high-quality development, and continue to push the construction of a unified national market deeper and more practical. On the one hand, improve the system as soon as possible. Formulate guidelines for the construction of a unified national market, submit and implement the “Opinions on Improving the Market Access System” and the “Social Credit Construction Law” to establish various institutional rules conducive to the construction of a unified national market. On the other hand, break down the barriers as soon as possible. Establish a long-term mechanism for problem reporting, inspection and rectification notification, carry out in-depth special rectification of outstanding issues such as market segmentation and local protection in key areas, continue to report typical cases, play a mirror role, and break down various obstacles and barriers that are not conducive to the construction of a unified national market.

3. Recently, many new energy vehicle companies in China have released new models, which are very popular, and consumers are very concerned. Director Zheng Zhajie said earlier that the National Development and Reform Commission will take more practical measures to support the development of the NEV industry. What other measures will be introduced in the future? How will the consumer goods trade-in campaign connect with promoting the development of new energy vehicles?

Since this year, China's new energy vehicles have continued to develop rapidly, showing vigorous vitality and vigor with strong supply and demand. On the one hand, market demand continues to expand. In the first quarter, China's NEV production and sales volume reached 2.115 million units and 2.09 million units, respectively, up 28.2% and 31.8% year-on-year, respectively. On the other hand, the supply of products is becoming more and more abundant. Domestic and foreign enterprises rely on their own advantages and supply chain advantages in China's NEV industry chain to actively create high-quality and low-cost products around consumer needs. Since this year, more than 30 NEV models have been released or marketed, and many products have received widespread public attention and active consumer subscriptions.

In recent years, China has achieved remarkable results in NEV development. A complete industrial chain system and supporting facilities have been established, and NEV production, sales and ownership have steadily ranked first in the world. This was achieved not only by China's large-scale market, complete industrial system, and abundant human resources, but also by factors such as full market competition, continuous R&D and innovation, and deep international cooperation. It was also achieved through the hard work of a large number of entrepreneurs, researchers, and frontline workers. The rapid development of China's NEV industry, while meeting the needs of the domestic public for a higher quality of life and promoting high-quality economic development, has also made positive contributions to enriching global product supply, coping with climate change, and promoting green and low-carbon development.

In March of this year, Director Zheng Zhajie of the National Development and Reform Commission stated at the 2024 China Electric Vehicle 100 People's Conference high-level forum that the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant parties to take more practical measures to support the high-quality development of the NEV industry. We are urgently studying and improving relevant policies and measures, focusing on three areas of work.

The first is to promote industrial optimization and upgrading. Insist on using scientific and technological innovation to promote industrial innovation, and guide enterprises to continuously increase R&D investment and technological innovation. Promote R&D and innovation in technologies such as power batteries and intelligent driving, and raise the level of standardization and integration of vehicles and components. Promote the development and growth of key NEV enterprises, accelerate the withdrawal of backward enterprises and production capacity, and promote the optimization and restructuring of NEV companies. At the same time, China will completely lift restrictions on foreign investment entry in the manufacturing sector, and welcome global automobile companies to deeply integrate into the Chinese market and industrial chain system and share the results of NEV development.

The second is to better meet consumer demand. Work with relevant departments to carry out automobile trade-in activities and activities for NEVs going to the countryside in 2024, etc., to continue to expand the market size to better meet NEV usage needs with high quality supply. Recently, 14 departments including the Ministry of Commerce and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Action Plan to Promote Trade-In of Consumer Goods”, proposing to carry out automobile trade-in. We will cooperate with relevant departments to speed up the implementation of the action plan, adopt preferential policies such as fiscal and taxation according to law and regulations, support eligible trade-in activities, and better meet consumer demand for new energy vehicles.

The third is to speed up infrastructure construction. Strengthen coordination between new energy vehicles, energy, electricity, infrastructure and other industries. Accelerate the construction of a high-quality charging infrastructure system, vigorously promote the construction of charging facilities in key areas such as old neighborhoods, highways, and rural areas, speed up the construction of public charging facilities that focus on fast charging, and enhance the ability to guarantee charging during holidays such as highway service areas. Promote the improvement of technical standards, strengthen safety supervision, and improve the level of charging infrastructure operation services. Implement and improve peak and valley timeshare electricity price policies, increase land use, financing and other guarantees, and provide strong support for charging infrastructure construction.

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