News

Ambitious plans in spite of a gloomy global outlook

By Zhuan Ti (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-05 07:37

Employees on the MG automobile assembly line in Nanjing. The Nanjing Automobile Corp purchased the MG Rover Group and its engine production line in 2005, the first Chinese company to acquire a foreign automobile company.

Jiangsu province has favorable conditions for economic and social development so it expects rapid economic and social progress, the province's Party chief recently remarked. But, that does not mean that it does not face some serious challenges.

The start of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) is crucial to the development goals, Party chief Luo Zhijun told the 11th provincial People's Congress in Nanjing on Feb 10.

But, Luo told the gathering, that they face a complicated situation: the more uncertain the global economic outlook becomes, the more unstable the province's economic development.

The challenges include worsening inflation, a less-than-optimistic outlook for exports, stricter energy conservation and emissions reduction standards, the difficulties in improving the standard of living, and the urgent need to change the economic model.

The government laid out this year's ambitious economic and social goals: 10 percent growth of GDP, 10 percent growth in budget funds, 18 percent growth in fixed asset investments, 8 percent growth in imports and exports, 10 percent growth in incomes of urbanites and rural people, and unemployment below 4 percent.

In this, the government will have a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, he said. It will give more financial support to innovations in agriculture, rural areas, standard of living, education, culture, and health.

"The government considers stable consumer prices to be very important and will increase its monitoring of consumer pricing," Luo said.

The government will watch the economy closely and guarantee adequate supplies of coal, electricity, refined oil products, and natural gas.

The government has its eyes set on a 17-percent increase in retail sales, so it plans to stimulate consumer demand, improve consumer conditions, and cultivate new areas of consumer demand.

It plans to lead private investments into some 200 major projects that are expected to have a profound, long-lasting effect.

Luo emphasized the importance of industrial restructuring as well as developing a better, more innovative economy.

The government plans to support a number of giant competitive enterprises as well as small and mid-sized businesses to make them more innovative.

Spending on R&D is expected to amount to more than 100 billion yuan, this year, 80 billion of that coming from businesses, and account for 2.2 percent of Jiangsu's GDP.

The government will improve its IPR strategy to develop more local brands and explore new areas of economic growth.

The province plans to increase its modernized industry's part of the GDP by one percentage point this year. The emphasis will be on various services like logistics, finance, information, and improved technology, tourism, body-building, domestic work, and lifestyle.

(China Daily 03/05/2011 page10)