Striving for steady progress and proactive efforts to ensure a strong start and a good step forward for the "14th Five-Year Plan"—Representatives and committee members review and discuss the plan report and budget report

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 7 - Title: Steady Progress and Vigorous Efforts to Ensure a Good Start for the 14th Five-Year Plan - Representatives and Committee Members Review and Discuss the Plan and Budget Reports

Xinhua News Agency reporter

2026 is the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, and doing a good job in economic and social development is of great significance. On the 7th, deputies to the National People’s Congress and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference attending the two sessions held serious reviews and lively discussions on the plan and budget reports.

Everyone expressed that the policy deployments in the two reports clarify the development path and respond to public concerns. We must take practical actions, strive for progress, promote qualitative effective improvements and reasonable quantitative growth in the economy, work hard to achieve the annual economic and social development goals, and ensure a good start for the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Continuously Consolidating and Expanding the Positive Momentum of the Economy

The government work report clarifies a series of expected targets for economic and social development this year. In response to these targets, the plan and budget reports made corresponding work arrangements.

“The current domestic and international development situation is complex and variable, with a high degree of uncertainty in the external environment, requiring an increase in policy adjustment efforts, using the certainty of macro policies to cope with the uncertainty of the situation, and continuously consolidating and expanding the positive momentum of the economy, laying a solid foundation for a good start to the 14th Five-Year Plan,” said Liu Shangxi, Vice President of the Chinese Macroeconomic Society.

The deficit ratio is arranged at around 4%; the national general public budget expenditure scale reaches 30.01 trillion yuan; 1.3 trillion yuan of ultra-long-term special government bonds will continue to be issued… Tian Xuan, a distinguished professor at Peking University, marked the relevant arrangements for fiscal expenditure in 2026 as significant while reviewing the budget report.

“In the first year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, there is a great demand for fiscal expenditure in various fields. This year’s arrangement of the general public budget expenditure scale and the newly added government bond scale both set new highs, and efforts will be made to improve the efficiency of fund use, providing strong support for the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan,” Tian Xuan said.

“Taking promoting stable economic growth and reasonable price recovery as an important consideration of monetary policy” and “flexibly and efficiently using various policy tools such as reserve requirement ratio cuts and interest rate reductions”… The plan report makes explicit arrangements regarding monetary policy.

Fan Xiaoyun, Dean of the Finance School at Nankai University, has been paying close attention to the orientation of monetary policy in recent years. She said, “Finance is the lifeblood of the real economy. Continuing to implement a moderately loose monetary policy, using various policy tools to maintain ample liquidity and gradually reduce comprehensive financing costs, is conducive to creating a good monetary and financial environment for economic and social development.”

Currently, the pattern of strong domestic supply and weak demand continues. To focus on expanding domestic demand, the plan and budget reports clarify multiple policies.

While reviewing the reports, Li Feng, Director of the Shandong Provincial Department of Finance, paid special attention to the “implementation of a fiscal and financial collaborative package policy to promote domestic demand.” He said, “This package policy uses market-oriented means such as loan interest subsidies, financing guarantees, and risk compensation to achieve ‘small funds leveraging large funds, and government guiding the market,’ providing greater support for expanding investment and promoting consumption.”

Unwaveringly Promoting High-Quality Development

Representatives and committee members expressed that the two reports reflect a complete, accurate, and comprehensive implementation of the new development concept, accelerate the construction of a new development pattern, and promote high-quality development, with a series of pragmatic and effective measures that inspire and motivate.

“Both reports propose multiple measures to accelerate the cultivation and growth of new kinetic energy, fully reflecting the requirement to develop new quality productive forces and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system,” said Fu Zitang, a professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law.

The plan report mentions “promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation,” which has been a focus for Shi Haofei, Vice President of the Chongqing Green Intelligent Technology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “The report clarifies measures to strengthen collaborative research among enterprises, universities, and research institutions led by enterprises and to cultivate a number of high-level technology-based enterprise incubators and technology transfer institutions, which will promote further aggregation of resources such as funds and talent and accelerate the industrialization of scientific and technological achievements,” Shi Haofei said.

Activating the potential of the large market and leveraging the advantages of the large market is the only path to achieving high-quality development.

While reviewing the plan report, Zhang Xiaowen, Chairwoman of Northeast Piano Instrument Co., Ltd., carefully studied the important measures listed in the column “Deeply Promote the Action for Building a Unified National Market.” She said, “I look forward to these concrete measures creating better development ‘soil’ for private enterprises, further activating market potential and vitality.”

Development and safety must achieve a dynamic balance and complement each other.

“Both reports reflect the requirement of coordinating high-quality development and high-level safety,” said Yu Jiaao, Party Secretary of the Baoquanling Branch of Beidahuang Group from Heilongjiang. “We will intensify efforts to promote the construction of high-standard farmland, further strengthen the protection of black land, and promote modern agricultural technology into villages and households, making the foundation of national food security even more solid.”

Increasing Support and Improvement for People’s Livelihoods

The central government allocates 66.7 billion yuan for employment subsidies; the central general public budget’s education expenditure is arranged at 192.5 billion yuan, an increase of 5%; the minimum monthly standard for basic pensions for urban and rural residents will be raised by another 20 yuan… Each livelihood measure in the budget report is substantial.

Representatives and committee members expressed that despite the increasing pressure on fiscal revenue and expenditure balance, the livelihood guarantees in this year’s “national accounts” still carry significant weight and substance, fully demonstrating the people-centered development philosophy.

Employment is the largest livelihood issue. The plan report proposes “implementing actions to stabilize jobs and expand capacity” and “supporting the development of industries and enterprises with strong employment absorption capacity,” which greatly encourages He Han, Chairman of Tianyu Data Technology: “With these policy supports, enterprises can make longer-term investments in talent reserves, promoting more people to increase their income through their skills.”

Education is a major national and party priority. In this regard, the budget report clearly states “further increasing financial investment in education” and proposes measures such as “improving free preschool education policies” and “promoting the high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education and the high-quality and inclusive development of preschool education.”

“These policies actively respond to concerns about people’s livelihoods, which is of great significance for promoting educational equity and effectively reducing the burden of childcare on families,” said Tuo Qingming, Director of the Education Examination Institute of Ya’an City, Sichuan Province.

From ensuring care for the young to providing support for the elderly, the two reports clarify multiple practical measures and increase funding support.

Yue Zehui, Deputy Director of the Liaoning Provincial Medical Security Bureau, was deeply impressed by the plan report’s content on “leveraging the role of childcare subsidies and improving systems for maternity insurance and maternity leave”: “This is a strong manifestation of promoting the construction of a family-friendly society. Liaoning will continue to deeply implement medical insurance support for childbirth policies, improve prenatal examination benefit standards, and focus on reducing the burden on the people.”

(Edited by: Wen Jing)

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