China's fiscal policies in 2024 expand effective domestic demand: finance minister

China

China's fiscal policies in 2024 expand effective domestic demand: finance minister

2024-10-12 17:03 Last Updated At：10-13 00:37

China's fiscal authorities have applied a range of policies this year aimed at expanding effective domestic demand, including initiatives to promote equipment upgrading and consumer goods trade-ins, said Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an at a press conference in Beijing on Saturday.

Lan elaborated on the fiscal policies adopted to strengthen counter-cyclical adjustment and promote high-quality economic development.

"We have made active efforts to expand effective domestic demand. Local governments have been urged to make effective use of the funds raised through treasury bond issuance to support post-disaster recovery and reconstruction while enhancing their capabilities in disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief. Efforts have been made to ensure the proper management of the issuance and use of ultra-long special treasury bonds to implement major national strategies and strengthen security capabilities in key areas. In addition, we have actively promoted large-scale upgrading of equipment and the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones," he said.

Among these initiatives, trade-in programs have driven many consumers to switch to electric vehicles, with retail sales reaching more than one million units in August alone this year.

The minister also emphasized that China has moved to boost capital support for localities most in need of development.

"We are making consistent efforts to strengthen the management of local government special-purpose bond, broaden the list of areas to which funds from bonds sales can be channeled as well as the scope for using such funds as project capital, and support local authorities in shoring up weak links in key areas. The additional 3.6 trillion yuan (509 billion U.S. dollars) in special-purpose bonds issued from January and September, has supported over 30,000 projects, with over 260 billion yuan (36.7 billion U.S. dollars) used as project capital," said Lan.

He added that China will introduce a package of targeted incremental fiscal policy measures in the near future to boost the economy.

The package includes increasing the debt ceiling on a relatively large scale in a lump sum to replace existing hidden debts of local governments and help defuse their debt risks.

China's new energy passenger vehicle sales surge in September

2024-10-13 11:57 Last Updated At：12:37

China's new energy passenger vehicle market continued to see robust growth in September, with its penetration rate, a gauge of popularity, in the domestic market climbed to 53.3 percent, according to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Saturday.

This marks the third consecutive month that the penetration rate of new energy passenger vehicle has surpassed 50 percent.

During the first nine months of 2024, total retail sales of new energy passenger cars amounted to 7.13 million units, representing a 37.4 percent increase from the previous year, the CPCA data showed.

Experts attribute the growth to the country's trade-in policies.

Last month, China issued a new circular that increased financial incentives to encourage consumers to scrap their old vehicles and buy new ones.

According to the circular, subsidies for trade-ins of new-energy passenger vehicles have doubled from 10,000 yuan -- a figure stipulated in an April document -- to 20,000 yuan.

Afterward, several local administrations have introduced corresponding subsidy schemes.

"The automobile trade-in policy promoted by the country and the relevant measures introduced by local governments have boosted the confidence of domestic consumers, leading to noticeable increase of retail sales. New energy vehicles have exceeded expectations, further solidifying their global leadership position. The new quality productive forces in auto industry are rapidly shifting from quantitative to qualitative changes," said Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).

During the January-September period, China's auto production reached approximately 21.47 million units, up 1.9 percent year on year, according to the data released by the CAAM on Saturday.

Auto sales totaled 21.57 million units, marking a 2.4 percent increase from the same period of last year. Notably, both production and sales of new energy vehicles surpassed 8.3 million units, with year-on-year growth exceeding 30 percent in both categories, the data showed.