China's commercial banks saw a forex settlement surplus of 3.5 billion U.S. dollars in November, official data showed Monday.
Forex purchases by banks reached 204.4 billion U.S. dollars, while sales stood at 200.9 billion U.S. dollars, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed.
In November, China's international economic activities remained vibrant, with the foreign exchange market operating smoothly and in an orderly fashion.
Overall, cross-border capital flows through the primary channels remained stable, said Li Bin, deputy head of the administration.
China's foreign exchange market is set to continue its robust performance in the future, partly because the existing positive factors and favorable conditions in economic operations are expected to strengthen the market's stability, according to Li.
Chinese banks report forex settlement surplus in November
China will introduce a series of incentive measures to father boost consumption in 2025, according to officials from the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs.
Next year, efforts will be made to promote steady growth in personal incomes through various measures, including increasing direct fiscal support for end-user consumption and enhancing social security levels.
China will promote employment for key groups; improve the mechanism for regular wage increases for workers and accelerate the establishment of a skill-oriented remuneration system.
Measures will be taken to appropriately increase the basic pensions for retirees, raise the basic pensions for urban and rural residents, enhance fiscal subsidies for urban and rural medical insurance, formulate policies to encourage childbirth, and focus on stabilizing the real estate and stock markets, aiming to boost personal income through multiple channels.
China will continue to optimize policies to promote consumption, improve related systems, and enhance the consumption environment.
Moreover, efforts will be made in adapting to changes in the consumption structure and enhancing the alignment between supply and demand.
Efforts should be accelerated to improve relevant support policies, encourage various business entities to provide diversified services, and focus on meeting residents' consumption needs in areas such as healthcare, elderly care, childcare, and domestic services.
Greater efforts are also needed to cultivate new forms of consumption in culture, tourism, sports, entertainment, and digital sectors.
Measures will be introduced to actively develop more diverse consumption scenarios and promote the growth of "debut economy" such as the launch of new products and new business models, ice and snow economy, and silver economy. New technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence should be fully utilized to continue fostering innovative, cross-disciplinary, and integrated new consumption models.
Investment, as a vital component of domestic demand, still has significant potentials.
In order to improve investment efficiency, efforts should be made in three following aspects.
First, it is important to strengthen goal orientation and grasp the right investment direction.
Investment goals should focus on "bridging gaps and boosting long-term growth." In terms of infrastructure, greater support should be given to the implementation of major national strategies and the building up of security capacity in key areas.
The development of a new real estate development model will be accelerated, and urban renewal initiatives and the renovation of dilapidated housing will be further implemented.
In social welfare, efforts should be stepped up to address gaps in education, healthcare, and elderly care. In manufacturing, increased investment should be made in areas such as technological innovation, industrial upgrading, and green transformation.
Second, it is important to adopt multiple measures to stimulate investment vitality. Strengthening the coordination between the fiscal and finance sectors is crucial, as well as leveraging major projects and government investment to drive growth and implementing a new mechanism for public-private partnerships effectively.
It is necessary to stabilize the policy expectations and development confidence of private enterprises, in order to effectively invigorate private investment. Efforts should also be made to promote institutional opening in key areas, stabilizing and effectively attracting foreign investment.
Third, China will improve the decision-making mechanism and optimize the investment environment. It is important to plan major projects for the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) at an early date, optimizing the investment approval process, addressing irregularities in investment promotion and correcting improper subsidies to create a fair competitive market environment and prevent distorted allocation of resources and inefficient investments.
Efforts should also be made to reduce various institutional transaction costs, increase financial support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and lower investment and financing costs.
China to further introduce incentive measures to boost consumption
