The Central Financial Work Conference was held in Beijing on October 30-31. The meeting, held every 5 years, sets the direction for China’s major financial reforms and policies. This year’s conference comes amid a slumping Chinese economy, real estate crises, local debt issues, and financial sector troubles.
The meeting emphasized strengthening financial supervision to effectively prevent and resolve risks, including establishing mechanisms to address local debt and optimizing government debt structures. It highlighted promoting healthy real estate financing, regulating foreign exchange and maintaining RMB stability, overseeing financial markets to prevent cross-border risk contagion, and coordinating financial regulators.
Xi Jinping delivered an important speech summarizing financial work since 2012, analyzing the financial situation, and laying out current and future policy priorities. The conference also aimed to promote a positive cycle in finance and real estate, strengthen foreign exchange management, prevent financial market risks, and coordinate financial regulators.
The meeting was originally scheduled for 2022 but postponed to this year. The last meeting was held in 2017. According to recent reports, He Lifeng has taken over as director of the CCP Central Finance and Economics Office.
The Central Financial Work Conference is the highest profile meeting on China’s financial system. Held every 5 years since 1997, each conference sets the tone for major financial reforms and policies in China. This year’s meeting comes amid serious economic slump and financial sector instability.
Source: Radio Free Asia, October 31, 2023
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/Xinwen/10-10312023155932.html