China will continue to adopt a more proactive fiscal policy and an appropriately accommodative monetary policy in 2026, aiming to pursue progress while ensuring stability and improve both the quality and performance of growth, said Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Thursday in Beijing.
Li delivered a government work report on behalf of the State Council for deliberation at the opening meeting of the annual session of China's top legislature, which kicked off Thursday morning at the Great Hall of the People.
Noting that the year of 2026 marks the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), Li put forward the main targets for development this year.
"Main targets for development this year include: an economic growth of 4.5 percent to 5 percent, and we will strive for better in practice; a surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5 percent; over 12 million new urban jobs; an increase in consumer price index of around 2 percent; growth in personal income in step with economic growth; a basic equilibrium in the balance of payments; grain output of around 700 million tonnes; and a drop of around 3.8 percent in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product," Li said.
In policy orientations, China will continue to pursue progress while ensuring stability, improve both the quality and performance of growth, boost synergy between adopted policies and new ones, enhance counter- and cross-cyclical adjustments, and make macroeconomic governance more effective, the premier said.
"We will continue to implement a more proactive fiscal policy. The deficit-to-GDP ratio for this year is set at around 4 percent. The government deficit is set at 5.89 trillion yuan (about 855.3 billion U.S. dollars), 230 billion yuan more than last year. We will continue to apply an appropriately accommodative monetary policy. We will maintain adequate liquidity to ensure that aggregate financing and money supply rise in step with projected economic growth and CPI levels. We will improve coordination between reform measures and macro policies. Bottlenecks and obstacles impeding economic flows should be cleared away through reform, and policies should help generate internal growth momentum. We will develop new implementation tools, so as to deliver the best outcomes possible. We will refine the mechanisms for managing expectations to bolster public confidence," Li said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other Chinese leaders were present at the opening meeting which was attended by 2,765 NPC deputies.
China to continue adopting more proactive fiscal policy, appropriately accommodative monetary policy in 2026
