BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- There will be no change
in China's macro-economic policy orientation amid the world economic downturn,
said an official with the country's economic planner on Friday.
Zhu
Zhixin, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),
said at a State Council Information Office conference that the overseas market
is still severe and the country's economic policy direction will remain
unchanged.
Although the country's economy has shown signs of
recovery, it still faces of many difficulties in maintaining stability, he said.
"Any change in the macro-economic policy would
disturb the recovery or rebound momentum, or even perish the previous efforts
and achievements," he said. "Efforts to keep a stable and fast economic
development is the top priority of the country in the second half."
Boosted by a surge in investment driven by the
stimulus, China's economic growth quickened to 7.9 percent in the second
quarter, up from 6.1 percent in the first quarter and 6.8 percent in the fourth
quarter of last year.
When asked whether a large loan extension would
result in inflation, Su Ning, vice governor of the People's Bank of China, or
the central bank, said the country's moderately easy monetary policy has played
an important role in boosting investors' confidence, enlarging domestic
consumption, and inflation should not be a current concern.
"In the first half, most of the loans were channelled
to support the construction of several major projects, and less projects are
expected in the second half," Su added.
Chinese banks advanced a record 7.37 trillion yuan
(1.08 trillion U.S. dollars) in new loans during the first half of the year,
exceeding the full-year target of 5 trillion yuan.
Comparatively, China's consumer price index, a main
gauge of inflation, dipped 1.1 percent in the first half from a year earlier.
The producer price index, a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level,
fell 5.9 percent year on year in the first half.
Su denied the market talk that China changed its
monetary policy, saying the government fine-tuned the monetary policy all the
time as a means to keep abreast of the changing economic climate.
"There is no change in China's monetary policy.
The central bank would stick to its moderately easy
monetary policy to consolidate the country's economic recovery," said Su.
The country would use "market tools" to guide
appropriate lending growth during the second half of this year, instead of
controlling loan scale of the country's commercial banks, he said.
The cental bank reaffirmed on Wednesday in a
quarterly report that its major task was to continue fostering steady economic
growth by maintaining credit policy continuity and stability as the economy was
still in a crucial phase.
Officials from the NDRC, the central bank and the
financial ministry also reiterated the importance of promoting the development
of private-owned companies, and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Ding Xuedong, vice minister of the financial
ministry, said at the conference that the country's efforts to provide small and
medium-sized enterprises with funds support, tax breaks and other favorable
policies had played a positive role for the development of such companies.
In the future, the country would further enhance
fiscal and tax support to these companies, Ding said.
So far this year, China has allocated 9.6 billion
yuan in funds to help small and medium-sized enterprises to expand overseas
markets, and promote innovation ability, an increase of 110 percent over the
same period last year.
These enterprises get more loans this year from the
country's lenders. The loan balance of small and medium-sized enterprises stood
at 13.7 trillion yuan by the end of June, representing an increase of 31.3
percent year on year.
