On the morning of October 12, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference, at which the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Finance introduced the relevant situation of "increasing the countercyclical adjustment of fiscal policy and promoting high-quality economic development" and answered questions from reporters.
At the meeting, Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an said that China's finance is resilient enough to achieve a balance between revenue and expenditure and complete this year's budget target by taking comprehensive measures. A package of fiscal incremental policies launched Lan Foan introduced, focusing on stabilizing growth, expanding domestic demand, and reducing risks, the Ministry of Finance will launch a package of targeted incremental policy measures in the near future. It mainly includes several aspects: First, we will strengthen support for local governments to resolve government debt risks, increase debt quotas on a larger scale, and support local governments to resolve hidden debts, so that local governments can free up more financial space to promote development and protect people's livelihood. The second is to issue special treasury bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks to replenish their core Tier 1 capital, enhance their ability to resist risks and provide credit, and better serve the development of the real economy. The third is to superimpose the use of local government special bonds, special funds, tax policies and other tools to support and promote the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize. Fourth, we will increase the support and guarantee for key groups, and a one-time living subsidy has been issued to the needy people before the National Day, and the next step will be to increase the number of students to help the poor and enhance the overall consumption capacity. Lan Foan said that counter-cyclical adjustment is not only a few policies announced so far, these are only policies that have entered the decision-making process, and other policy tools are also being studied, such as the central government still has a large room for borrowing and deficit improvement. Lan Fo'an introduced that on the basis of arranging a local government debt limit of more than 2.2 trillion yuan in 2023, the central government will arrange a quota of 1.2 trillion yuan in 2024 to support local governments, especially high-risk areas, to resolve the risk of existing debts and clear up the arrears of enterprises. At the meeting, Lan Foan said that the mainland plans to increase the debt limit on a large scale at one time, replace the stock of implicit debts of local governments, and increase efforts to support local governments to resolve debt risks. The relevant policies will be explained in detail to the society after the legal procedures are carried out. It should be emphasized that this impending policy is the most powerful measure to support debt in recent years, which is undoubtedly a timely policy rain, which will greatly reduce the pressure on local government bond issuance, free up more resources to develop the economy, boost the confidence of business entities, and consolidate the three guarantees at the grassroots level. In 2024, the fiscal deficit will be 4.06 trillion yuan, an increase of 180 billion yuan over the budget at the beginning of the previous year, the new local government special debt limit will be 3.9 trillion yuan, an increase of 100 billion yuan over the previous year, and the issuance of 1 trillion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds, making good use of the additional treasury bond funds in 2023, and the annual general public budget expenditure will reach 28.55 trillion yuan, continuing to maintain a high expenditure intensity and providing strong support for high-quality development.
This year, the central government has issued employment subsidies of 66.7 billion yuan
Lan Foan introduced that since the beginning of this year, the central government has issued employment subsidies of 66.7 billion yuan to support local governments to do a good job in the employment and vocational skills training of key groups such as college graduates. From January to September, the national education expenditure exceeded 3 trillion yuan. The basic pension level of retirees will be increased according to the proportion of 3% of the country, and the minimum standard of basic pension for urban and rural residents will be greatly raised. The financial subsidy standard for basic public health services will be raised to 94 yuan per person per year, and the financial subsidy standard for basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents will be raised to 670 yuan per person per year. The number of national scholarships has been doubled, and the national scholarship for this specialty has been raised to 10,000 yuan, and Guo Tingting, vice minister of finance, introduced at the press conference that the number of national scholarships will be doubled in 2024, and the number of national scholarships for undergraduate students will increase from 60,000 to 120,000 per year, the number of national scholarships for master's students will increase from 35,000 to 70,000 per year, and the number of national scholarships for doctoral students will increase from 10,000 to 20,000 per year. The national scholarship award standard for junior college students has been increased from 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan per student per year.
丨Source丨CCTV News People's Daily Client丨Production丨Pingliang Rong Media Center丨Review丨He Jun, Liu Yingna丨Editor丨Wu Peng