Photo taken on July 2, 2022 shows the view of a commercial street in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province. In recent years, Hubei Province has striven to combine its night economy with culture and tourism in innovative ways, thus enhancing the vitality and attraction of nighttime consumption.(Photo: Xinhua)
China's State Council, the cabinet, on Tuesday sent 19 inspection teams across the country to ensure that major policies announced by the central government are fully implemented, as the authorities strive to maintain GDP growth within a reasonable range amid the protracted fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak and rising geopolitical tensions.
Inspection teams will go to provincial-level regions, including Shanghai, North China's Shanxi Province, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, and East China's Jiangsu Province.
Inspectors will focus on the implementation of policies aimed at stabilizing growth, improving people's livelihood and employment, bolstering market entities, expanding domestic consumption, stabilizing foreign trade and investment, and improving local business environment through further reforms in streamlining administration and delegating power, according to a statement on the State Council website.
The inspection aims to speed up the implementation of the policies set out in the Central Economic Work Conference and the Government Work Report and to keep the economy running at a reasonable pace, read the statement.
At a conference for the deployment of the task on Monday, Xiao Jie, State Councilor and Secretary-General of the State Council, urged the inspectors to help resolve the outstanding difficulties that localities face in seeking an economic recovery and to actively make contributions for the smooth running of the economy and social stability, so as to greet the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
The inspection comes as the economy faces some challenges due to the complex global environment and domestic COVID-19 resurgences, with China's GDP expanding 2.5 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year.
For the second half, efforts should go to consolidating the upward trend of the economic recovery, maintaining employment and stable prices, keeping the economy running within an appropriate range, and strive for the best possible outcome, according to a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held on July 28.
Major provinces including Southwest China's Sichuan Province and East China's Jiangsu and Fujian provinces have come up with specific measures to contribute to stabilizing local economies.
Fujian announced 19 measures to boost the innovation and development of its private economy, encouraging private capital to make good use of real estate investment trusts (REITs) and monetary policy tools for infrastructure investment. It also proposed to nurture a number of digital trade and e-commerce platforms.
Shanghai plans to issue consumption vouchers worth a total of 1 billion yuan ($146 million) between August and November, which can be used for catering, retail and tourism consumption, in its latest move to spur consumer spending.
"China's economy, with strong resilience and great potential, will gradually recover, and it is expected to operate in a reasonable range backed by anti-virus and pro-growth economic policies and measures," Fu Linghui, a spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a recent press briefing in Beijing.