BEIJING - Following is the full text of the Report on the Implementation of the 2014 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the 2015 Draft Plan for National Economic and Social Development, which was submitted on March 5, 2015 for review at the Third Session of the 12th National People's Congress and was adopted on March 15.
REPORT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2014 PLAN FOR NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ON THE 2015 DRAFT PLAN FOR NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Third Session of the Twelfth National People's Congress
March 5, 2015
National Development and Reform Commission
Fellow Deputies,
The National Development and Reform Commission has been entrusted by the State Council to submit this report on the implementation of the 2014 plan and on the 2015 draft plan for national economic and social development to the Third Session of the Twelfth National People's Congress (NPC) for your deliberation and for comments from the members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
I. Implementation of the 2014 Plan for National Economic and Social Development
Last year, in the face of a complex and volatile environment abroad and arduous and formidable tasks involving reform, development, and stability at home, all regions and government departments, under the correct leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, adhered to the general work guideline of making progress while ensuring stability; followed a general philosophy of keeping macro policies stable, making micro policies flexible, and meeting basic needs through social policies; and made coordinated efforts to ensure steady growth, advance reform, make structural adjustments, improve the standard of living, and guard against risks. We earnestly implemented the 2014 Plan for National Economic and Social Development approved at the Second Session of the Twelfth NPC, carried out our tasks in a sure and steadfast fashion, and achieved good results in all respects. Overall, we sustained steady economic and social development under a new normal and successfully implemented the plan for 2014.
1. We strengthened and improved macro-control and ensured steady economic performance.
We created new and improved ways of carrying out regulation at the macro level, took more targeted measures and enhanced structural adjustments on the basis of range-based regulation, and ensured that the economy performed within an appropriate range.
1) The economy grew steadily.
Fully leveraging the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth, we implemented a comprehensive range of policies aimed at boosting consumer spending. Total retail sales of consumer goods for the year rose by 12% and consumption in information, elderly care, health, and other service sectors grew rapidly. Making good use of the key role of investment, we launched major projects in ecological conservation and environmental protection, clean energy, agriculture, and water conservancy, and made innovations in the mechanisms for investment and financing in key areas. Total fixed-asset investment for the year rose by 15.3%, of which 64.1% came from nongovernmental sources (excluding rural households). Giving play to the supporting role of exports, we worked hard to stabilize exports while increasing imports. The total volume of US dollar-denominated imports and exports for the year rose by 3.4%, and our international market share continued to rise. Final consumption, capital formation, and net exports were responsible for 51.2%, 48.5%, and 0.3% of economic growth, respectively. The gross domestic product (GDP) reached 63.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.4% over the previous year.
2) The employment situation remained stable.
We continued to implement a more proactive employment policy, relying on reform, economic growth, and sound policy measures to create and secure jobs. A particular emphasis was placed on supporting university and college graduates in finding jobs or starting their own businesses, and on providing job seeking assistance for urban residents who are unemployed or having difficulty finding jobs. An additional 13.22 million urban jobs were created throughout the year. The registered urban unemployment rate stood at 4.09% at the end of 2014.
3) Price growth slowed.
The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 2% for the whole year. We tightened oversight over market prices and stepped up efforts to counter monopolistic pricing, dealing with 25,000 cases of pricing irregularities and imposing economic penalties of 4.47 billion yuan. We abolished a host of unreasonable charges and fees levied by banks and other financial institutions, saving enterprises more than 40 billion yuan.
4) Fiscal and financial risks remained at a controllable level.
We strengthened and standardized the management of local government debt, reviewed and screened outstanding debts, launched trials for local governments to issue their own bonds and repay their own debts, and strengthened risk assessment and early warning initiatives. Focusing on industries with overcapacity, local government debt, informal credit, and Internet banking, we intensified efforts to monitor, assess, and identify risks with a view to preventing regional and systemic financial risks. In response to fluctuations in the real estate market, we promptly adjusted and improved housing-related financial policies and improved related financial services.
2. We comprehensively deepened reform and opening up and greatly invigorated the market.
We continued to carry out a range of reforms related to government review and approval, fiscal and tax systems, banking, investment, and pricing. We also increased the pace of reform in education as well as medical and healthcare services. These initiatives enabled us to inject new vitality and impetus into economic and social development.
1) The reform of the government review and approval system was continued.
Focusing on investment, production, and business operation, we canceled or delegated to lower-level governments the process of government review and approval for 246 items, achieving ahead of schedule the goal of cutting the number of items requiring government review and approval by one third. In addition, we pushed forward comprehensive reforms in the business system, and the number of newly registered market entities for the year totaled 12.93 million.
2) Fiscal, tax, and financial reforms were actively pushed forward.
We formulated and implemented an overall plan for deepening fiscal and tax structural reforms. We extended the trials of replacing business tax with VAT to the railway transportation, postal, and telecommunications services industries, and replaced the quantity-based resource tax on coal with a price-based one. We introduced new measures on the procurement of services by the government. We raised the upper limit on the floating range for deposit interest rates and reduced maturity brackets. We also widened the floating range of the RMB exchange rate, allowing it to float more freely. We methodically approached the lifting of restrictions on the establishment of financial institutions, and approved the establishment of five private banks. The trial-run of the Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Connect was officially launched. The scale of RMB settlement in cross-border trade and investment increased.
3) Breakthroughs were made in the reform of the investment system.
Major steps were taken to reform the system for the review and approval of investment projects. Further revisions were made to the list of investment projects requiring government review and approval. The number of projects requiring approval at the ministerial level was cut by 76% over the past two years. The system of mandatory government review for all overseas-funded projects was replaced with a reporting-based system under which government review is only required in a limited number of cases. More than 95% of cases were only required to report to the government. With the exception of cases involving sensitive countries, regions, and industries, the requirement that overseas investment projects must be reviewed and approved by the government was replaced with new requirements under which projects only need to be reported online. The number of projects that required government review and approval accounted for less than 2% of the total. A work plan was introduced for reducing the number of items requiring government review and approval, regulating intermediary services for investment projects, and reviewing and approving enterprises' investment projects online. Guidelines were formulated and implemented for revamping the systems of investment and financing in key sectors and encouraging nongovernmental investment. Positive headway was made in the reform of the investment and financing system for railways.
4) Pricing reform was intensified.
We lifted price controls over more than 700 low-priced medicines covered by medical insurance as well as 50 goods and services in other sectors, such as medical services provided by non-public medical institutions and telecommunications services. Railway freight transport prices were changed from being set by the government to being guided by the government and a ceiling was imposed. Unified national railway freight transport prices were raised once again. Benchmark passenger transport prices on domestic air lines were changed from being reviewed and approved by the government to being determined by airline companies in accordance with state pricing rules. We launched pilot projects of guaranteed base prices for cotton produced in Xinjiang and soybeans in northeast China and Inner Mongolia. We carried out trial reforms for the pricing of electricity transmission and distribution on power grids in Shenzhen and western Inner Mongolia. We introduced tiered pricing for residential water and gas consumption and adjusted the price of non-residential natural gas for use that was within 2013 levels.
5) Progress was made in the reform of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs).
Guidelines for reforming the remuneration system for executives in central government enterprises were introduced. Pilot reforms were launched to reorganize central government enterprises as state-owned asset investment companies, develop a mixed-ownership economy, and standardize the boards of directors in central government enterprises. Further progress was made in the merging and reorganization of SOEs. (More)
6) Social reforms proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Guidelines for comprehensive reform of the system for the use of official vehicles were formulated, and were implemented first in the bodies of the CPC Central Committee and central government. Plans for a system of public credit records were promulgated and implemented, and mechanisms to enable different departments to share credit information and take joint punitive actions against those who act in bad faith were improved. Significant progress was made in the establishment of a unified registration system for immovable property. The reform of the school examination and enrollment systems was vigorously promoted. The plan for old-age insurance reform in Party and government bodies and public institutions was promulgated as expected. The majority of China's provincial-level administrative areas have established systems enabling residents to settle medical bills incurred in any locality within that jurisdiction via their medical insurance accounts. Trials for the comprehensive reform of county-level public hospitals have been extended to over 50% of counties or county-level cities throughout the country.
7) A new phase of reform and opening up has been initiated.
The strategy of developing the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road entered the implementation phase, the construction of infrastructure was strengthened with a view to achieving better connectivity with neighboring countries, and the opening up of markets in border areas and inland areas was expanded. The operation of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone yielded transferable experience that can be replicated in other reform projects. The utilization of foreign capital was enhanced in terms of both quality and structure. Non-financial foreign direct investment actually utilized in 2014 totaled US$119.6 billion, up 1.7% year on year. The proportion of foreign investment utilized in the service sector reached 55.4% of the total. Efforts were redoubled to promote international cooperation on production capacity and encourage Chinese equipment to "go global," and good progress was made in initiatives to promote Chinese rail transit equipment, electricity generation, telecommunications, and energy on the international market. China's non-financial outward direct investment reached US$102.9 billion for the year, up 14.1%. A pattern of synchronous growth in inward and outward investment began to take shape.
3. We accelerated industrial structural adjustment and vigorously promoted economic transformation and upgrading.
Through exerting market forces and enhancing policy guidance, we sped up the transformation of the economic growth model and gave new impetus to the improvement and upgrading of the industrial structure.
1) New breakthroughs were made in innovation.
Spending on R&D as a percentage of GDP reached 2.09% in 2014, with corporate R&D spending accounting for over 76% of the total. Cutting-edge innovations such as the Tianhe-2 supercomputer, super-hybrid rice, the Chang'e lunar lander, satellite applications, and the deep-sea manned submersible Jiaolong captured global attention. Breakthroughs were made in a number of key and core technologies and industrial applications, covering the fields of biology, intelligent manufacturing equipment, ocean engineering equipment, regional airliners, mobile Internet, and broadband network equipment. There was rapid development in strategic emerging industries, such as cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and big data. Micro-innovation, crowd innovation, and other innovative and entrepreneurial models showed robust growth. The value-added of the high-tech manufacturing sector rose by 12.3%, four percentage points higher than that of industrial enterprises with annual revenue of 20 million yuan or more from their main business operations.
2) Good headway was made in transforming and upgrading traditional industries.
The technological upgrading of enterprises in traditional industries was carried out vigorously. Initiatives to adjust the distribution of key industries and relocate industries gathered pace. Steady progress was made in the elimination of excess production capacity. Tasks set out at the beginning of last year to eliminate excess production capacity in 15 key industries were completed as planned, effectively curbing the blind expansion of production capacity. Important gains were made in turning the coal industry around.
3) The service sector sustained rapid growth.
New business types and models displayed robust development. Cultural and creative industries and design services were further integrated with related industries, and a mid-to-long-term development plan and three-year action plan were introduced for the logistics industry. The value-added of tertiary industry (the service sector) amounted to 30.7 trillion yuan, increasing by 8.1% over the previous year and accounting for 48.2% of the GDP, 5.6 percentage points higher than that of secondary industry.
4) Basic industries and infrastructure developed quickly.
The country's comprehensive transportation system was further improved, with the total length of railway lines and expressways open to traffic both exceeding 110,000 kilometers. National internet backbone access points were built in seven more cities, and fiber optic broadband was made available to another 30 million households or so. The installed capacity of hydropower facilities nationwide exceeded 300 million kilowatts. Major progress was made in the exploration and exploitation of coal seam gas, shale gas, and deep-water oil and gas. Construction began on 57 of 172 major water conservancy projects that have been planned. The first phase of the central route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project was put into operation, providing drinking water from the Yangtze River to 60 million residents in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
4. We bolstered the foundations of agricultural and rural development and made advances toward balanced development between urban and rural areas and between regions.
Throughout the year we vigorously developed modern agriculture, steadily promoted a new type of people-centered urbanization, optimized the spatial planning of economic development, and took new steps in balancing development between urban and rural areas and between different regions.
1) Agriculture and rural areas showed good development momentum.
Investment related to agriculture, rural areas, and farmers was further increased, and the development of agricultural infrastructure was supported. We oversaw the orderly transfer of land operation rights, leading to the transfer of around 30% of contracted land-use rights in rural areas. We formulated an overall plan to control serious agricultural environmental pollution, guidelines on establishing demonstration zones for ecological conservation and improvement, a plan to reform state forestry farms, and guidelines on reforming state forestry areas. Total grain output grew for the 11th consecutive year, reaching 607 million metric tons. Production of agricultural and sideline products, including meat, eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables, and fish, remained stable. We guaranteed the provision of safe drinking water for over 66 million more rural residents, renovated dilapidated houses for 2.66 million rural households, and reduced the number of rural population living in poverty by 12.32 million.
2) A new type of urbanization was advanced in an active yet prudent way.
We issued and implemented a national plan on a new type of urbanization, and carried out supporting policies such as a plan to reform the household registration system and a scheme for fulfilling the three tasks, each concerning 100 million people: granting urban residency to around 100 million people who have moved to cities from rural areas, rebuilding run-down areas and "villages" inside cities where around 100 million people live, and guiding the process of urbanization of around 100 million rural residents in the central and western regions. Comprehensive trials for a new type of urbanization were launched in two provinces and 62 cities or towns. Standards for classifying cities based on their population were fine-tuned. The percentage of the population residing permanently in urban areas was 54.77%. The percentage of the population registered as permanent urban residents is estimated to have reached 36.7%.
3) Regional development became more balanced.
We accelerated the implementation of the "Three Major Strategies": the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road ("One Belt and One Road" strategy); the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; and the development of the Yangtze River economic belt. We finalized plans for advancing the "One Belt and One Road" strategy, steadily launching pragmatic cooperation in a wide range of areas. We completed the functional zoning of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and established the plan for its coordinated development, and made initial breakthroughs in three key areas of integrated transportation, environmental protection, and industrial upgrading and relocating. We issued and implemented guidelines on stimulating the development of the Yangtze River economic belt, which revolve around making use of the Yangtze's role as a golden waterway, and launched the plan to build an integrated multidimensional transportation corridor along the Yangtze River economic belt. A total of 33 key projects for the large-scale development of China's western region were launched, representing a total investment of 835.3 billion yuan; and a list of industries encouraged for development in the western region was released and put into effect. Guidelines concerning a number of major policies and measures to support the revitalization of northeast China in the near future were issued, and progress was made in the transformation of cities once dependent on resources that are now depleted. Continued efforts were made to establish the central region as a national integrated transport hub and as a center for production of grain, energy, and raw materials, and the development of modern equipment manufacturing and high-tech industries. The regions' developmental layout consisting of two east-west and two north-south economic belts was further improved. The economic transformation of the eastern region gained momentum, and continued to spur on the development of the Chinese economy. Increased economic support was provided for old revolutionary base areas, ethnic minority areas, border areas, poor areas, and especially contiguous areas with acute difficulties.
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