Editor’s Note: Hannan Hussain is a foreign affairs commentator and author. He holds a Fulbright degree from the University of Maryland, USA, and a former Assistant Research Fellow at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute. The article reflects the views of the author and not necessarily those of CGTN.

On January 10, the Chinese State Council decided to speed up the implementation of the major projects set out in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), with emphasis on expanding the pool of effective investments to the future. “The economy is at a crucial time to overcome the difficulties,” according to an official statement on the executive meeting of the State Council chaired by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. “We must make stabilizing growth a higher priority and firmly implement the strategy of expanding domestic demand,” the statement added.

The shared focus on accelerating domestic consumption on the one hand, and the incentive to support employment-oriented projects on the other, is the latest sign that China is considering consolidating its growth momentum without the excesses of an expansionary monetary policy. The meeting’s particular consensus on streamlining administrative processes, for example, is evidence of a welcome foundation for many off-the-shelf projects that policymakers believe could serve as catalysts for increased investment.

China’s Central Economic Work Conference, a strong point of reference at Monday’s State Council meeting, has already signaled that the country plans to successfully manage any supply shock or risk. contraction in demand, with the aim of further stabilizing the macroeconomics. That link is now strong as the State Council calls for a “higher priority” to stabilize China’s demonstrated growth momentum, and explores avenues to increase domestic demand during what policymakers have. described as a “crucial period” for China’s economic operations.

A powerful message of assurance has been sent to key sectors of the Chinese economy. This includes those that are seen as essential and strategic for advancing China’s proven domestic demand strategy and for spurring more jobs and income gains in the future. Take, for example, the recently announced government support guarantees on land availability and financial assistance for advanced manufacturing, high-tech, power, energy and affordable housing projects. Closely monitored hydropower programs, including those with the capacity to create jobs and multi-year income gains for migrant workers, are also being prepared for launch.

Overall, the State Council’s multi-pronged approach to accelerating major projects under the 14th Five-Year Plan exudes the strength of China’s supply-side pragmatism: that the government will ensure financial availability, energy and land use projects for multisectoral projects, so that the latter’s momentum can be risk-free and on track for upward stimulus.

In terms of political impact at the local level, Monday’s meeting also focused on the actual use of some $ 188 billion in special local government bonds issued in the fourth quarter of last year. Such rapid utilization is important, as the goal for this year is to help frontload the 2022 bond quota. This goal depends in part on the pace of government use of bonds in the recent past, confirming the merits of the decision of the Council of State to opt for it.

Understand that the consensus on the timely use of bonds benefits the acceleration of payments for megaprojects, especially since the sale of the newly approved debt for 2022 was agreed at the meeting. All this in an attempt to better support the Chinese economy’s forecast for continued economic stability in the first quarter of the year, treating various policy measures as a continuum of events and quelling speculation that excessively monetary measures expansionists are being considered.

Finally, the meeting’s increased support for centralized wholesale purchasing, particularly from a medical perspective, offers a high value proposition to reduce economic costs to patients through wholesale purchasing. “In recent years, the reform of centralized purchasing of high-value drugs and medical consumables has been continuously promoted, and the market-oriented mechanism has effectively reduced the deceptively high medical prices,” said Premier Li.

The evidence up to the end of last year is compelling: Similar interventions on government procurement methods have saved billions of dollars in patient spending and medical insurance costs.

In fact, looking at the global climate on the pandemic, that benchmark in supply is also worth sucking up this year. Especially with the interests of the citizens taking center stage and the Chinese government’s purchasing ambitions making it clear that it will harness whatever levers are needed to make the 14th Five-Year Plan resonate in all directions.

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