BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China will strengthen fiscal policy over the next five years, said the country’s finance minister on Saturday in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.
Finance Minister Lan Foan said the country will strengthen counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical regulation and set the deficit-to-GDP ratio and scale of government borrowing to suit evolving conditions.
China will also make use of tools such as the budget, taxation, government bonds and transfer payments, and provide sustained support for economic and social development, Lan said.
Internationally, the external environment is volatile and unstable, and major-country rivalry is becoming more intricate and intense, said Lan, without mentioning any specific countries or China’s trade dispute with the United States.
Support will be increased for areas including the modern industrial system, science and technology, education and social security, said the minister.
Fiscal subsidies will be used to expand consumption of goods and services, Lan said.
China will also make coordinated use of local government special-purpose bonds and ultra-long special treasury bonds while optimising the direction of government investment.
(Reporting by Jenny Su in Beijing and Engen Tham in Shanghai; Reporting by Tom Hogue)
