China may achieve positive economic growth this year despite the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and still has ample policy room to keep the world’s second-largest economy on a steady track for growth, according to Premier Li Keqiang.
“We have reserved policy space on the fiscal, financial, social security and other fronts, and we are in a strong position to quickly introduce new measures, if necessary, without hesitation,” Li said at a news conference after the closing of the annual session of the National People’s Congress.
“Keeping China’s economic fundamentals stable in itself will be a contribution to the whole world, and China will remain a positive force driving global economic recovery and growth.”
China has decided to roll out a number of supportive policies to reduce the operational costs of enterprises, increase investment in infrastructure to generate growth and improve people’s livelihoods. The country has pledged more government spending, raising the fiscal deficit target to at least 3.6% of GDP and issuing 1 trillion yuan (US$139.8 billion) in special treasuries.
Authorities have also planned to create more than 9 million new urban jobs, keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate at about 6% and maintain consumer inflation at around 3.5%.
“We will do our utmost to keep China’s economic growth stable and, at the same time, we must ensure that all measures taken are well-calibrated,” Li said.
“The key for the government to achieve its economic goals is to protect businesses and help them make it through hard times, because it matters for job creation and people’s basic living needs,” Xu Hongcai, chief economist and deputy director of the economic policy committee of the China Association of Policy Sciences, told the China Daily.
“Reducing their operating costs is one of the most effective ways to help them survive and resolve their difficulties.”
Anti-dumping investigation
China’s Ministry of Commerce has decided to extend the investigation period by 6 months on imports of polyphenylene sulfide from Japan, the United States, South Korea and Malaysia. The new deadline is November 30, 2020.
The Ministry of Commerce initiated an anti-dumping investigation against imports of polyphenylene sulfide originating from the four countries on May 30, 2019.
5G in Shenzhen airport
Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport said it has embraced the full coverage of the 5G network, three months ahead of schedule after the last outdoor base station was installed.
Since early this year, the airport has accelerated construction of a 5G network by building 41 outdoor base stations, with signals that can cover all places including terminals, the flight area and the freight transport area.
The speed of the 5G network is more than 15 times faster than the current 4G network and will support ultrafast movie downloads, according to initial tests.
Company news
WeiLai Motor, an automobile maker, said its operating loss was 1.37 billion yuan in the first quarter of this year, compared with 2.86 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of last year. The company said its first-quarter performance beat market expectations.
At the end of March, Weilai Motor had set up 87 outlets nationwide, including 22 Weilai centers and 65 Weilai spaces, and stores in 60 Chinese cities. The company expects to deliver 9,500-10,000 automobiles in the second quarter. It delivered 3,155 units in April.
Gotion High Tech, a Shenzhen-listed lithium battery maker, said it planned to raise more than 6 billion yuan through private placement and share transfer to Volkswagen China.
After completion, Volkswagen China will be the largest shareholder of Gotion High Tech. However, Volkswagen China said it would irrevocably give up some of its voting rights in the company’s shares within a certain period of time so that its voting rights would be at least 5% lower than those of the founding shareholders.
The story was written by Xu Jiangshan and Nadeem Xu and first published at ATimesCN.com.