BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top leaders met yesterday to hash out economic plans for 2025, calling for a more “relaxed” monetary policy as the country charts an uneven recovery.
The Politburo, the country’s top decision-making body, “held a meeting to analyse and study the economic work of 2025”, state news agency Xinhua said.
“We must vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and comprehensively expand domestic demand,” Xinhua quoted officials as having said.
“Next year we should… implement a more active fiscal policy and an appropriately relaxed monetary policy,” they added.
The world’s second-largest economy is battling sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt.
Leaders are also bracing for the second term of Donald Trump in the White House, with the president-elect indicating he will reignite his hardball trade policies.
Beijing has unveiled a string of measures since September aimed at bolstering growth, including cutting interest rates, cancelling restrictions on homebuying and easing the debt burden on local governments.
And in October, the central bank said it had cut two key interest rates to historic lows.
But economists have warned that more direct fiscal stimulus aimed at shoring up domestic consumption is needed to restore full health in China’s economy.
