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On the morning of October 20, the National Development and Reform Commission held a press conference in October to answer questions from reporters on the media's concerns about the economic situation in the third quarter, new measures to promote consumption, the implementation of major foreign investment projects, and the optimization of the business environment.
How to analyze the economic situation in the third quarter and look forward to the fourth quarter, can China's economy continue to improve?
On October 19, the National Bureau of Statistics released data on economic performance in the first three quarters, and overall, with the strong and effective promotion of the overall epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, the economic performance in the first three quarters continued the good momentum of steady recovery, showing four outstanding features.
First, the four main indicators of economic growth and three major demand "from negative to positive". The first is that the economic growth rate has turned from negative to positive. In the first three quarters, the GDP increased by 0.7 year-on-year, and fell by 1.6 in the first half of the year, reversing the negative economic growth in the first half of the year. The second is that the growth rate of fixed asset investment has turned from negative to positive for the first time. With the further manifestation of the effect of investment to make up for shortcomings, coupled with the construction of a number of major projects, fixed asset investment in the first three quarters increased by 0.8 year-on-year. Third, the quarterly growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods changed from negative to positive for the first time, household consumption continued to pick up, the momentum of bulk consumption such as automobiles improved, the consumption of contact services such as tourism accelerated to recover, and online retail continued to grow rapidly. in the third quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 0.9 compared with the same period last year. Fourth, the growth rate of total imports and exports of goods for the first time from negative to positive, in the first three quarters of the renminbi-denominated imports and exports of goods increased by 0.7 percent year-on-year, in the global epidemic continues to spread, the international trade environment continues to be affected by the situation, to achieve this result is not easy.
Second, the development of endogenous vitality can be continuously enhanced. On the one hand, the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries have been steadily promoted. In the face of the impact of the epidemic, many enterprises took the initiative to seek change, the technological transformation of traditional industries was implemented in depth, the deep integration of manufacturing and modern service industries accelerated, and the value added of regulated industries increased by 1.2 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters. On the other hand, new industries, new formats and new models are booming. In the first three quarters, investment in high-tech industries increased by 9.1, 2.8 percentage points higher than that in the first half of the year. Among them, investment in high-tech manufacturing and high-tech service industries increased by 9.3 and 8.7 respectively.
Third, the people's livelihood continued to improve. From the perspective of employment, 8.98 million new urban jobs were created in the first three quarters, which is close to the completion of the annual target. In September, the national urban survey unemployment rate was 5.4 percent. In terms of prices, consumer prices rose 3.3 per cent in the first three quarters compared with the same period last year, falling quarter by quarter, and the prices of pork, vegetables and other foods of social concern have all fallen. From the perspective of residents' income, the per capita disposable income of residents across the country increased by 0.6 in real terms in the first three quarters; at the same time, the social security network has been strengthened, and safeguard measures for people in need have been effectively implemented.
Fourth, market expectations are steadily improving. With the implementation of various policies and measures, the confidence of market entities has steadily recovered. In September, China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index was 51.5, up 0.5 percentage points from August, and was above the critical point for seven consecutive months. The expected index of business activities in the service sector was 62.2 per cent, up 0.9 percentage points from August.
It can be said that the steady recovery of economic operation in the third quarter once again shows that China's economy has strong resilience and great potential. However, we also see that the current domestic and international environment is still complicated, and there are still many challenges in promoting sustainable economic recovery and high-quality development. In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, do a solid job in the "six stability" work, fully implement the "six security" tasks, strengthen the overall convergence of all work in the fourth quarter of this year and early next year, and make cross-year overall arrangements for important policies.

This year's National Day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, cultural travel and other consumer performance bright. What is the analysis of the new features and highlights of sales? How will the NDRC continue to promote consumption?

Since the beginning of this year, in the face of the impact of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic on consumption, the relevant departments in various regions have taken active action to launch a series of "combination fist" to boost consumption, promoting the accelerated recovery of the consumer market. Especially during the National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday this year, consumer demand was concentrated and market sentiment recovered steadily, further consolidating the good momentum of consumption recovery. The characteristics of current consumption can be summarized in the following three aspects.
First, the steady growth of essential consumer goods, upgraded goods growth rate is faster. On the one hand, the growth rate of retail sales of some essential consumer goods, including daily necessities, has increased significantly. On the other hand, the growth momentum of retail sales of consumer upgrading commodities such as communication equipment, cosmetics, gold and silver jewelry is strong, and the year-on-year growth rate of automobile sales has been maintained at more than 10% for five consecutive months. Especially during the "Eleventh" Golden Week, the sales of key monitored cars in Beijing, Zhejiang, and Yunnan increased by 23.5, 20.3, and 14.1 respectively year-on-year.
Second, offline consumption continued to pick up, and online consumption maintained rapid development. Traditional retail formats continued to improve. In the first eight months, the growth rate of retail sales of supermarkets above the quota was 0.9 percentage points faster than that in the previous seven months, and the decline in retail sales of department stores, specialty stores and specialty stores continued to narrow. Online retail continued to grow rapidly, and the proportion of online retail sales of physical goods in total retail sales of consumer goods increased steadily.
Third, the resumption of business to accelerate the resumption of the market, service consumption orderly recovery. During the "Eleventh" Golden Week, the average daily sales of key retail and catering monitoring companies across the country increased by 4.9 year-on-year, and domestic tourist arrivals and tourism revenue recovered by 79.0 and 69.9 respectively year-on-year. The movie box office was still under certain control. Reaching the second highest level during the National Day Golden Week over the years, consumption has rebounded significantly, and residents' consumer confidence has further improved.
In the next step, the national development and Reform Commission will firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand, constantly strengthen overall coordination and policy linkage in view of the blocking points and difficulties encountered in the process of boosting consumption, accelerate the completion of consumption soft and hard shortcomings, stabilize consumption in key areas, tap new growth points of consumption, create a good consumption environment, and promote the formation of a strong domestic market.
One is to promote the development of new consumption. Recently, the State Council issued the Opinions on Leading the Development of New Consumption with New Business Types and New Models, which clarified the development direction and policy measures of new consumption including online education, Internet health care, and new retail. To promote the implementation of policy documents, the National Development and Reform Commission will accelerate the introduction of relevant specific implementation plans and supporting measures to support the development of new consumption formats and new models, cultivate and form a number of new consumption demonstration cities and leading enterprises.
The second is to promote the sustained growth of consumption of commodities and services. Promote the transformation and upgrading of automobile and home appliance consumption, promote the transformation of automobile purchase restrictions to guided use, encourage localities to introduce policies to promote the replacement of old cars, promote the construction of parking lots in major public buildings, and the upgrading of roadside parking facilities, and improve the recycling and treatment of used home appliances System, support the development of home appliance trade-in activities, and promote the renewal and consumption of home appliances. Actively develop housing rental consumption to meet the housing needs of residents.
The third is to actively expand rural consumption. In view of the blocking point of rural consumption, we should vigorously improve the comprehensive level of e-commerce and express delivery into rural areas and the modernization level of agricultural products circulation, speed up the improvement of the county, township and village e-commerce service system and express logistics distribution system, promote the branding, standardization, digitization and industrialization of rural products and services, guide the extension and expansion of modern services to rural areas, and accelerate the strengthening of weak links in rural consumption, We will effectively boost rural consumption.
The fourth is to build a multi-level consumption center. Focusing on the national major regional development strategy, combined with the development planning of urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas, the overall layout and construction of a number of national consumption centers, regional consumption centers and local characteristic consumption centers, and accelerate the formation of echelon development, convergence and interaction, complementary advantages and covering the national large market pattern of consumption areas.

What policy initiatives and practices will be in place to promote consumption poverty alleviationWhat?

Since the full implementation of consumption poverty alleviation, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, has continued to promote the accurate docking of consumption, circulation, and production, the government, enterprises, and society have made concerted efforts, the system design has been continuously improved, the scale of consumption has continued to expand, the convergence of production and marketing has gradually diversified, and the social atmosphere has become increasingly strong, which has achieved remarkable results in promoting consumption poverty alleviation. Since the implementation of consumption poverty alleviation, as of September this year, all regions and departments have directly purchased or helped sell agricultural products in poverty-stricken areas by more than 460 billion yuan. Among them, in the first three quarters of this year alone, all regions and departments directly purchased more than 33 billion yuan and helped sell more than 300 billion yuan.
In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will further strengthen overall coordination, refine and implement policies and measures, innovate work promotion methods, and focus on four aspects of work.
One is to dig deep into the potential of consumption poverty alleviation. We will further coordinate relevant regions and departments, constantly expand the scale of consumption of products and services in poor areas, and continue to help win the battle against poverty in an all-round way.
The second is to actively promote experience and practices. Continue to sort out, summarize and promote the experience, practices and models of consumption poverty alleviation work, promote excellent typical cases, and further create a pattern of social participation in consumption poverty alleviation that "everyone can do, everyone is willing to do, and everyone can do.
The third is to carry out poverty alleviation effectiveness evaluation. Timely conduct a comprehensive assessment of the implementation of the consumption poverty alleviation policy, further find out the progress and effectiveness of the work of various regions and departments, find out the shortcomings and weaknesses in the work, and study and adopt targeted measures.
The fourth is to improve the level of consumption poverty alleviation. In accordance with the central government's deployment requirements for the effective connection between the promotion of comprehensive poverty alleviation and the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy, we will study the relevant ideas and measures to promote the upgrading of consumption poverty alleviation during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. The focus is to focus on underdeveloped areas and rural low-income groups, and strengthen marketization. Orientation, continue to consolidate the results of poverty alleviation.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission released the 2020 of China's Business Environment Report. In optimizing the business environment, what else does the NDRC have to consider in the next step?

In recent years, in accordance with the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant parties, has continuously deepened the reform of "management and service" and promoted the continuous optimization of the business environment throughout the country. In particular, since the outbreak of the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, a number of targeted, innovative, access to a strong sense of "management and service" reform initiatives, actively respond to the impact of the epidemic challenges, orderly promote the resumption of work and production and help enterprises to bail out, and achieved good results.
Recently, the development and Reform Commission issued the 2020 of China's business environment report, which comprehensively introduced China's business environment evaluation system and evaluation methods, systematically sorted out the progress and achievements of promoting business environment evaluation in recent years, and summarized and refined the practical experience of deepening the reform of "management and service" and optimizing the business environment in various provinces, autonomous regions and cities, especially the participating cities.
In the next step, on the basis of consolidating the achievements of the previous stage of reform, the NDRC will further deepen the reform of "management and service", continue to strengthen efforts to create a world-class business environment, and promote high-quality economic development.
One is to further deepen decentralization. During the epidemic, many places facilitated business ventures by simplifying procedures and optimizing processes. It is necessary to fix these effective and good practices, continue to streamline administrative licensing, optimize the approval process, and promote approval models such as "acceptance of vacancies" and notification and commitment systems. We will fully implement the negative list system for market access and enable the market to play a decisive role in the allocation of resources.
The second is to further implement fair supervision. Accelerate the improvement of the "1 N" regulatory and policy system for optimizing the business environment, improve "double random, one open" supervision, credit supervision, "Internet supervision", and cross-departmental coordinated supervision, innovative and inclusive prudential supervision, and establish and improve various new industries, New business formats, new technologies, new models of innovation and development of regulatory rules.
The third is to further improve service efficiency. Simultaneously improve the convenience of online and offline services, make greater efforts to promote the integration and sharing of government service data, accelerate the accurate push of preferential policies, help qualified enterprises to enjoy and enjoy quickly, and provide better government services for the masses of enterprises.
Four is to further strengthen the evaluation guide. Guided by market players and public satisfaction, we will continue to improve and improve China's business environment evaluation system with unified national standards, and better play the positive role of evaluation in guiding reform and promoting innovation. Accelerate the construction of business environment innovation pilot zones, timely sort out, summarize, copy and promote the experiences and practices of various regions and departments, and drive the nationwide benchmarking and continuous optimization of the business environment.

What is the current implementation of major foreign investment projects? What new measures will be introduced for foreign investment access to Hainan Free Trade Port?

Since the beginning of this year, against the background of a sharp decline in global cross-border direct investment, China's utilization of foreign capital has gradually stabilized, and the situation is better than expected. From January to September, China's actual utilization of foreign capital in US dollars was 103.26 billion US dollars, an increase of 2.5 percent over the same period last year, achieving a cumulative positive growth in the utilization of foreign capital in US dollars for the first time. A number of major foreign investment projects have been implemented in an orderly manner. For example, Beijing Benz's reorganization and upgrading project has achieved full mass production. The first batch of units in Zhanjiang BASF's new integrated petrochemical base project completed pile foundation construction. The localization rate of Tesla electric vehicle project in Shanghai has been continuously improved and the production capacity has been further improved. These developments fully demonstrate the strong confidence of foreign-funded enterprises in China's development.
In the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant parties to issue a catalog of industries that encourage foreign investment before the end of the year to further expand the scope of encouraging foreign investment; strengthen project reserves, and start subsequent batches of national-level major foreign investment project declarations in a timely manner; continue to do a good job in foreign investment The implementation of the investment law and implementation regulations will create a fairer and more transparent investment environment for foreign businessmen's deep cultivation and development in China.
With regard to the policies related to foreign investment access in Hainan Free Trade Port, in order to give full play to the unique advantages of Hainan Free Trade Port in testing the highest level of opening up policy and stimulate Hainan's potential to attract foreign investment, at present, our committee, together with Hainan Province, is studying and compiling a negative list of foreign investment access in Hainan Free Trade Port, promoting Hainan's key areas to relax foreign investment access, and helping Hainan Free Trade Port to open up to a higher level. The list will be released before the end of the year, and we will do a good job of publishing and interpreting it in time.