15th Five-Year Plan crucial for Chinese modernization: official

China

15th Five-Year Plan crucial for Chinese modernization: official

2025-10-24 16:20 Last Updated At：18:57

The 15th Five-Year Plan is crucial for realizing Chinese modernization, a senior official said at a press conference in Beijing on Friday following the conclusion of the fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The key Party meeting, which ended in Beijing on Thursday, deliberated over and adopted the Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development.

The 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030) will play a pivotal role in laying a solid foundation and accelerating the progress towards Chinese modernization, said Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission and director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group.

"The 20th CPC National Congress set out a strategic plan for building China into a modern socialist country in all respects, putting for a two-step strategic approach to realize the second centenary goal. The first step is to basically realize socialist modernization by 2035, which requires unremitting efforts over the course of three five-year plan periods from the 14th to the 16th to build on this progress," said Han.

"The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a crucial one for laying a solid foundation and driving comprehensive efforts to basically realize socialist modernization, which is of great significance in building on past achievements and charting the future. With only 10 years to go to 2035, success in the first five years is essential to gain greater initiative. We must act with a sense of urgency and historical responsibilities, plan economic and social development for the next five years scientifically, seize the critical window of opportunity, consolidate and expand our strengths, break through bottlenecks, and address weaknesses. This will drive major breakthroughs in strategic tasks vital to the broader cause of Chinese modernization," said Han.

IMF chief urges coordinated actions to offset Middle East War's impact on world economy

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday called for coordinated actions to offset the Middle East War's impact on the world economy.

In a speech titled "Cushioning the Middle East War Shock" at the opening of the 2026 IMF Spring Meetings, Georgieva urged all countries to "reject go-it-alone actions, export controls, price controls, and so on" that could further disrupt global conditions.

She said that fiscal authorities should provide targeted and temporary support to the vulnerable, aligned with their medium-term fiscal frameworks.

The IMF chief also called on central banks to step in firmly with rate hikes if inflation expectations threaten to break anchor and ignite a costly price spiral, while stressing that fiscal support should remain targeted and temporary.

Furthermore, Georgieva noted that all nations must use their limited fiscal resources responsibly, and that both micro- and macro-prudential policies need to be aligned to mitigate stability risks and maintain a resilient financial system.

Since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Feb 28, global daily oil supply has fallen by about 13 percent, while liquefied natural gas supply has dropped by roughly 20 percent, according to IMF data. Those reductions have sent international energy prices soaring.

Brent crude oil briefly jumped from 72 U.S. dollars per barrel before the conflict to 120 U.S. dollars, and while prices have since eased, they remain significantly higher than pre-war levels. The cost of accessing energy has risen sharply for many nations.

Georgieva pledged support to members with financing through the fog of uncertainty, expecting near-term demand for IMF balance-of-payments support to rise to somewhere between 20 billion and 50 billion U.S. dollars, given the spillovers of the Middle East War.