Measures to stimulate China’s internal consumption and phase out COVID-19 aid will be among four main issues to be discussed during state leaders’ annual top-level meeting on the economy this month, a mainland Chinese report has said.

Ways of stimulating spending would be on the agenda of the Central Economic Work Conference as domestic consumption had recovered more slowly than infrastructural spending and exports in 2020, mainland news network Yicai reported.

Another focus would be on the speed with which the Chinese government should withdraw its relief for pandemic-hit businesses next year, the report said. The country needed to study this issue as the global economic outlook remained uncertain, despite estimates that China’s economy would show a strong rebound, the report said.

The annual meeting was meant to set the national agenda for the economic, financial and banking sectors over the next year, which was significant as the first in the 2021-2025 period under China’s 14th five-year plan and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of China’s Communist Party, Yicai said.

On fiscal and monetary policies, the country was expected to stop issuing special bonds relating to COVID-19 relief and to slow down tax and fee reductions, it said.

The national ratio of fiscal deficit to gross domestic product was expected to decrease to 3% next year from more than 3.6% this year, while local government debt would shrink to 3 trillion yuan (US$459 billion), from this year’s 3.75 trillion yuan, Yicai said, citing several observers.

State leaders at the conference would also look at long-term and major reforms in key areas to mark the historical significance of 2021, the report said.

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