Explainer: China's economic to-do list for 2025 -- takeaways you should not miss

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (Xinhua) -- As 2025 approaches, the global community's attention is increasingly focused on China's economic plans and strategies. With the world's second-largest economy poised to enter a crucial year in its development trajectory, policymakers, investors and analysts alike are keen to understand China's economic priorities and objectives.

In a noteworthy disclosure, Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs, has provided insights into China's economic roadmap for 2025 in an article published Tuesday in the People's Daily.

Han's article, which draws from the recent Central Economic Work Conference, provides an overview of China's economic performance in 2024. With a length of over 4,100 Chinese characters, it also offers valuable insights into how China plans to navigate domestic and international economic landscapes, maintain steady growth and further advance its modernization.

Here is a digest of the article, titled "Promote sustained economic recovery and improvement."

REVIEW OF 2024

Looking back on 2024, China's economy demonstrated remarkable resilience and progress in the face of complex domestic and international challenges. Han's article highlights several key achievements that set the stage for future growth.

The economy is expected to have grown by around 5 percent, contributing nearly 30 percent to global economic growth and maintaining China's position as a major engine of the world economy.

Besides, significant strides were made in developing new quality productive forces, reforms and opening-up measures deepened, the Belt and Road Initiative continued to advance, and resilience in exports was evident. The country has orderly and effectively defused risks in key areas.

However, Han's analysis doesn't shy away from acknowledging the challenges faced by the Chinese economy. Domestic demand, particularly consumer spending, remained insufficient, and some enterprises faced operational difficulties. Employment pressures persisted and risks in certain sectors continued to be a concern. On the international front, geopolitical conflicts and rising global protectionism added to the complexities faced by China's economy.

Despite these challenges, the article emphasizes that China's economic fundamentals remain strong, with significant advantages, resilience and potential for growth. The long-term positive trends supporting China's development remain unchanged.

PLANS FOR 2025

The tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference has already outlined a number of key measures and tasks for the Chinese economy in 2025. Han provides more details on these initiatives. Here are some key takeaways from his article:

-- Efforts will focus on streamlining the monetary policy transmission mechanism, maintaining relatively robust growth in money supply and credit, and reducing overall social financing costs. These measures aim to effectively address the financing challenges faced by businesses, particularly the persistent issues of limited credit access and high borrowing costs;

-- Action will be taken to vigorously promote the integration of technological and industrial innovation, focusing on building a modern industrial system;

-- Support for the development of more unicorn and gazelle companies will be substantially enhanced;

-- To address rat-race irrational competition, the country will boost industry mergers and restructuring, encouraging "race-to-the-top competition" while restraining "race-to-the-bottom" practices;

-- Efforts will be made to regulate algorithms and strengthen supervision to promote the healthy development of the platform economy;

-- Amid efforts to effectively prevent and defuse risks in key areas, the focus is on the real estate market, local government debt, and small and medium-sized financial institutions;

-- Good houses that meet the high-quality living standards of the people will be built as China aims to foster a new development model for the real estate sector;

-- New urbanization centered on county seats will accelerate;

-- Support for provincial powerhouses will be strengthened in terms of land, energy, environment, data, and other key factors. ■