By Zhou Hongchun, DRC

2017-2-28

China's economy is now focused on the improvement of people’s livelihood, bearing a strong periodic social development feature. First, with booming consumer demand, the contribution of consumption to economic growth rate continues to get enhanced. Instead of being satisfied with having enough to eat, adequate clothes to wear and a roof over their heads, people now want to eat green food, dress beautifully, and live in spacious homes. Second, people have raised a higher demand on living conditions, including a green-low-carbon and circular-economic development mode, a livable environment and ecological and fine quality products. Third, due to the narrowing income gap, social welfare facilities are evolving from a non-balanced type to an inclusive and common sharing one.

The fundamentals of China's economy with a positive long-term development trend have not changed, and the economic performance enjoys adequate economic growth potential and considerable leeway for manoeuvring. The government needs to take the improvement of people’s livelihood as the starting point and ultimate goal and put in more efforts on how to improve their life quality. In 2017, the government needs to flesh out the major task with the improvement of people’s livelihood in the main. First, efforts need to be made to innovate the growth mode, and the "shortsighted" approach for economic development should be abandoned. The new industries, new business forms and new development modes will help China to transform its economic growth pattern, and a new round of technological revolution will become an important engine to promote the development of human society. Second, the government needs to seize new investment opportunities, narrow the development gap between regions, meet the need for innovation and entrepreneurship progress, and continue to leverage the key role of investment in economic development. Third, the government needs to use supply-side tools like factors, products and institutional arrangements, implement a market-oriented and reform-based mode, and change the management model from the supply side to the demand side, so as to achieve effective docking of supply and demand in China, and boost industrial development to reach a mid-to-high level.