The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a meeting on April 25 to analyze and study the current economic situation and economic work. Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, presided over the meeting.

Since the beginning of this year, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has strengthened its overall leadership over economic work, according to the meeting. All localities and government departments have made concerted efforts to tackle challenges, and macro policies have taken effect in synergy. The economy has shown positive trends, and public confidence has continued to improve. Solid progress has been made in advancing high-quality development, and overall social stability has been maintained. Meanwhile, the foundation for China's sustained economic recovery still needs to be further consolidated, and the country is confronted with the intensifying impact of external shocks. It is essential to prepare for worst-case scenarios with sufficient planning and ensure solid progress in economic work.

The country must adhere to the general principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, fully and faithfully apply the new development philosophy on all fronts, and move faster to create a new pattern of development, the meeting noted. It is imperative to coordinate domestic economic work and endeavors in the international economic and trade arena, unswervingly manage the country's own affairs well, and stay committed to expanding high-standard opening up. The country should also strive to keep employment, businesses, markets and expectations stable, and address the uncertainty of drastic changes in the external environment with the certainty of the country's high-quality development.

The meeting stressed that it is a must to accelerate the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies, and make full use of a more proactive fiscal policy and a moderately loose monetary policy. The country should accelerate the issuance and utilization of local government special-purpose bonds and ultra-long special treasury bonds. Work should be done to see that basic living needs are met, salaries are paid, and governments function smoothly at the primary level. Timely cuts in the reserve requirement ratios and interest rates should be made to ensure ample liquidity and stronger support for the real economy. New structural monetary policy instruments and policy-based financial instruments will be introduced to support sci-tech innovation, boost consumption and keep foreign trade stable. Efforts should also be made to strengthen the consistency of policy orientations.

It was noted at the meeting that the country will increase the earnings of low- and middle-income groups, vigorously boost service consumption, and enhance the role of consumption in driving economic growth. Restrictive measures in the consumption sector will be removed promptly, while a re-lending facility for service consumption and elderly care will be introduced. The country will strengthen financial support to ensure that the large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs are implemented with greater scope and higher quality. Meanwhile, stronger support will be provided for implementing major national strategies and boosting security capacities in key areas.

The meeting stressed the need to help businesses facing challenges with multi-pronged measures, including stronger financing support. The country should accelerate the integration of domestic and foreign trade, foster new quality productive forces, and cultivate new pillar industries. The country will make constant efforts to achieve breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, introduce a "sci-tech board" in the bond market, and speed up the implementation of the AI Plus initiative. It is imperative to vigorously promote quality enhancement and upgrading of key industries, attach greater importance to standards, and ensure fair competition.

The meeting stressed that China should stay committed to deepening reform and opening up to solve the problems in the course of development. The country should accelerate the development of a unified national market and earnestly carry out special actions to standardize law enforcement involving enterprises. Policies on piloting the opening up of the service sector should be intensified, and services for enterprises going global should be enhanced. The country will make joint efforts with the international community to actively uphold multilateralism and oppose unilateral bullying.

The meeting pointed out that continuous efforts should be made to prevent and defuse risks in key areas. The country should continue to implement the debt relief policy package for local governments, accelerate the settlement of local governments' overdue payments owed to enterprises, intensify efforts to advance the urban renewal initiative, and promote the renovation of shanty towns in cities and dilapidated housing in an effective and orderly manner. The country should speed up the establishment of a new development model for the real estate sector, increase the supply of high-quality housing, optimize policies on the procurement of existing commercial housing, and continuously consolidate the stable momentum of the real estate market. The capital market should also be kept stable and active.

The meeting stressed the importance of ensuring people's livelihoods. For enterprises heavily impacted by tariffs, the proportion of unemployment insurance funds returned to enterprises to keep payrolls stable will be increased. The multi-tiered and categorized social assistance system will be improved. Agricultural production will be strengthened to stabilize the prices of grain and other key agricultural products. The country will effectively integrate the consolidation of poverty alleviation achievements with rural revitalization. Continued efforts will be made to ensure workplace safety and strengthen disaster prevention and mitigation.

The meeting also pointed out the need to continuously improve the policy toolkit for stabilizing employment and the economy. Once adopted, policies must be rolled out as soon as possible to ensure timely results. In response to changing situations, incremental policies in reserve should be promptly rolled out and unconventional counter-cyclical adjustments should be strengthened, thereby striving to consolidate the fundamentals of economic development and social stability.

The meeting emphasized strengthening the Party's overall leadership over economic work, encouraging Party members and officials to rise to challenges and take proactive actions while establishing and practicing a correct understanding of what it means to perform well. It is essential to earnestly carry out the education campaign on thoroughly implementing the CPC Central Committee's eight-point decision on improving work conduct, thus securing new advances in high-quality development with new achievements in work style improvement.

The meeting also discussed other matters.