Prudent course charted for 2005 deckhead
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-12-02 00:43

Prudent fiscal and monetary policies will be exercised next year, according to decisions of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee released yesterday.

The meeting was held to analyze the current economic situation and to conduct planning for economic work next year. It stressed beefing up co-ordination between various macrocontrol policies and measures, properly controlling total economic output and adjusting economic structure "to promote steady and relatively fast economic growth" in 2005, officials at the meeting said.

Issues concerning rural areas, agriculture and farmers will remain Party's top priority next year. Support to agriculture and rural economic growth "will be further enhanced to promote growth in grain production and farmers' incomes."

Other major tasks of the country's economic work for next year addressed at the meeting included:

* Adjusting the economic structure in line with domestic and international market situations and with an eye to improving core competitive power

* Continuing to control investment on fixed assets by strictly controlling land and credit

* Deepening reforms of the country's economic system and improving the quality and level of "opening up"

* Raising the conservation consciousness of the entire nation through vigorously promoting conservation of energy and important resources and speeding up the development of the "recycled economy"

* Promoting employment and re-employment of laid-off workers, improving social security, further stimulating consumption and concretely safeguarding the vital interests of the people

* Planning economic and social development as a whole, speeding up the development of science, education and other social undertakings, properly handling the relationship between reform and development and substantially safeguard social stability.

Participants stressed that although China has made marked economic achievements, the Chinese economy still faces a few problems and challenges that "urgently need to be solved."

These problems and challenges include the lack of a firm foundation for the growth of grain production and farmers' incomes, lingering tendency of over-investment and some deep-rooted problems hindering healthy growth in the economy.

According to participants at the meeting, chaired by Chinese President and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Hu Jintao, a central economic work conference will soon be held to make arrangements for proceeding with efforts.

Economic workshop

At a workshop earlier, Hu called for efforts to consolidate and develop what has been achieved by implementing macro-economic control policies in the nation's economic work next year.

The CPC Central Committee held a workshop on November 8 to solicit opinions and suggestions from leaders of non-Communist parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce as well as persons without party affiliation, regarding the economy.

Participants aired their views and suggestions on macrocontrols, agriculture, rural development, farmers' incomes, co-ordinated economic and social development, resources, the work to guard against financial crises, the overseas development of Chinese companies, innovative abilities, development of small- and medium-sized enterprises and a land-management system.

The Chinese economy is in a new round of growth and the ability for foster national economic development independently has been strengthened, creating favourable conditions for the country's overall development, Hu said at the workshop.

Auditing expanded

Meanwhile, Premier Wen Jiabao and Wu Guanzheng, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, urged the improvement of economic auditing work to intensify the building of clean government.

"Economic auditing is of great importance to building a clean government and promoting the government to act according to law," Wen said in a written instruction to a national meeting on economic responsibility and auditing, which opened in Beijing Monday.

China has decided to expand the scope of economic audits of government officials from the beginning of 2005. Heads of prefectures and prefecture-level agencies will be subject to auditing from January 1 of 2005, as were officials of lower ranks.

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