Since the beginning of this year, all localities and departments have conscientiously implemented various policies and measures to strengthen and improve macro-control, and China's economic operation has continued to develop in the expected direction of macro-control, maintaining a good development momentum on the whole. The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that the fundamentals of China's steady and rapid economic development will not change in the second half of the year, but it must be noted that there are still some situations and problems that need to be highly concerned in economic operation, especially in the case of positive results in aggregate regulation and control, some structural problems are increasingly exposed.
With the steady and rapid economic growth, people have gained more benefits.
In the first half of the year, China's GDP increased by 9.5% year-on-year. The quality and efficiency of economic operation were further improved, and the profit growth of industrial enterprises above designated size reached 19. 1%. The excessive growth of investment continued to be curbed, and the growth rate of fixed assets investment in the whole society dropped by 3.2 percentage points. The growth of consumer demand accelerated, and the growth rate of total retail sales of social consumer goods accelerated by 65,438 0.8 percentage points. Foreign trade import and export both exceeded $300 billion. The price increase slowed down, and the overall level of consumer prices rose by 2.3%, with the increase falling by 65,438 0.3 percentage points. With the improvement of supply capacity and the effective control of unreasonable demand, the tension of coal, electricity and oil transportation has eased compared with last year.
The broad masses of the people have benefited more from reform and development. In the first half of the year, the per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 9.5% year-on-year, and the per capita cash income of farmers increased by 12.5%, with the growth rates accelerated by 0.8 and 1.6 percentage points respectively. Employment and re-employment continued to be strengthened. In the first half of the year, 5.95 million new jobs were created in cities and towns, completing 66% of the annual target; 2.58 million laid-off workers were re-employed. The rights and interests of workers have been better protected, and the minimum wage has been raised in various places. Nearly 22 million urban residents and more than 5 million rural residents have received minimum living security assistance.
There is a positive trend in coordinated development. This year, governments at all levels have further increased their investment in social undertakings, especially rural health and education. The disease prevention and control system and the medical treatment system for public health emergencies are progressing smoothly. The number of poor students funded by the central free textbooks has expanded to 30 million. New progress has been made in the large-scale development of the western region and the adjustment and transformation of the old industrial bases in Northeast China. The central provinces have also given full play to their own advantages to accelerate development, and some resource processing and manufacturing industries have accelerated the transfer to the central and western regions. The whole society pays more attention to the economical and intensive utilization of land, fresh water, energy and resources, and the development of circular economy has achieved initial results in some places and enterprises.
The intensity of system reform has obviously increased, and new steps have been taken in structural adjustment.
This year, the State Council has made comprehensive arrangements for institutional reform and made progress in some key areas that have been brewing for many years.
The reform of the shareholding system of state-owned enterprises and the management system of state-owned assets continued, and the reform of the railway and postal systems began. In view of the new contradictions and problems in the rural tax and fee reform, the pilot work of comprehensive rural reform with township institutions, rural compulsory education and county and township financial system as the main contents was carried out. Opinions and supporting measures to encourage, support and guide the development of non-public economy such as individual and private enterprises were issued, and railway construction and transportation were opened to non-public capital. New breakthroughs have been made in the pilot reform of joint-stock system and non-tradable shares in state-owned commercial banks, and important steps have been taken in the reform of exchange rate formation mechanism, with a managed floating exchange rate system based on market supply and demand and adjusted with reference to a basket of currencies. Further rationalize the price of resources, start the linkage mechanism of coal and electricity prices, and smoothly promote water price reform.
Under the guidance of macro-control and market mechanism adjustment, the industrial structure has been accelerated, the concentration of steel, nonferrous metals and other industries has increased, the pace of eliminating backward production capacity has been accelerated, and the momentum of excessive growth of energy-intensive industries has been curbed. The investment structure was further adjusted, and the growth rate of investment in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, transportation and other industries expanded. Especially in view of the outstanding problems in the real estate field, the state has strengthened market guidance and regulation, which has initially curbed the excessive rise in housing prices that have been strongly reflected by some local people. In the first half of the year, the average sales price of commercial housing nationwide decreased by 2.4 percentage points compared with the first quarter.
The policy of supporting agriculture and benefiting farmers was introduced early, vigorously and well implemented, which can reduce the agricultural tax burden of farmers by 2 1 100 million yuan throughout the year and effectively mobilize farmers' enthusiasm for growing grain. The planting area of summer grain has reversed the decline for seven consecutive years, and the output has increased by 5 1.2 million tons compared with last year's bumper harvest. It is expected that there will be another good harvest of early rice. Planting varieties and regional layout were further optimized.
In the first half of the year, China's economic and social development achieved remarkable results. Practice has proved that the central government's principles and policies on economic work are correct and the measures are necessary and timely. This is not only conducive to the overall completion of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, but also creates favorable conditions for the development during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. Achievements are hard-won and need to be cherished.
Pay close attention to structural contradictions and the economic fundamentals will not change.
The better the situation, the more we should keep a clear head. It must be noted that there are still some situations and problems that need close attention in the current economic operation, especially when the total amount control has achieved positive results, some structural problems are increasingly exposed.
These problems mainly include: the decline of food prices, the increase of agricultural products prices and the emphasis on natural disasters, which have adverse effects on agricultural production and farmers' income; The scale of investment is still relatively large, and the growth rate of investment increased month by month in April, May and June. The investment structure is still unreasonable, and new disorderly construction has appeared in some fields; The problem of disorder in the real estate market has not been solved; Trade imbalance and trade friction are more prominent; The profit growth rate of industrial enterprises has slowed down, and the profit differentiation of enterprises is obvious; The overall situation of coal, electricity and oil transportation is still tight.
The reasons for these problems are, on the one hand, influenced by the changes of domestic and international economy and market environment, and more importantly, some deep-seated contradictions and problems that restrict the sustained and coordinated development of China's economy have not been effectively solved. The situation of low comprehensive agricultural production capacity and fragile foundation has not changed. The current fiscal, taxation, finance, investment and land management systems are not perfect, Scientific Outlook on Development and the correct outlook on political achievements have not been well implemented in some places, and the institutional factors of blind investment and extensive growth have not been eliminated. Many enterprises lack the ability of independent innovation, and the proportion of low-end products is large, which makes it difficult to adapt to rising costs and changes in market demand.
In the second half of the year, the fundamentals of China's steady and rapid economic development will not change, and the overall economic development is still in a period of rapid growth. As long as we adhere to the principles and policies set by the central government, maintain the continuity and stability of macroeconomic policies, and continue to strictly control the two gates of land and credit, unhealthy and unstable factors such as excessive growth of investment demand will not rebound greatly, and the national economy will maintain a good momentum of steady and rapid growth. The key is to seize the opportunity, intensify reform, accelerate structural adjustment, focus on changing the growth mode, better adhere to differential treatment, maintain pressure, promote coordinated development, strive to achieve the expected goals of economic and social development throughout the year, and lay a solid foundation for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan. (Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 5th)