Move aims to balance trade, spur growth

The State Council, China's cabinet, on Thursday released a slew of measures to spur the country's imports, in the latest effort to rebalance trade and give support to the cooling economy.

Financial institutions should give more credit support for importing high-tech equipment and key components in order to promote industrial upgrading, according to a statement posted on the central government's website.

Measures should also be taken to encourage imports of high-end services, such as consulting, designing and other services in the areas of energy conservation and environmental protection, for which there is an "urgent need," the statement said.

The statement said that these measures could help in upgrading the country's economic structure and also help to make good use of China's foreign exchange reserves, which totaled $3.89 trillion by the end of September.

China has rolled out a series of policies to boost trade in the past few months. In May, the State Council announced 16 measures, including speeding up customs processes and improving financing services, in order to stabilize trade growth amid the slowing economy.

Coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Fujian, which rely heavily on imports and exports for GDP growth, also announced measures recently to spur local trade growth.

"But these measures have been showing more effect on the export side. Imports are still sluggish, and require more help," said Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, noting that only balanced trade could benefit long-term economic growth.

China's exports rose 15.3 percent year-on-year to $213.69 billion in September, and imports totaled $182.7 billion, up by just 7 percent year-on-year, according to customs data.

The country's trade surplus was around $30.9 billion in September, having reached record highs of $47.3 billion and $49.8 billion in July and August, respectively.

"Low import growth was mainly caused by sluggish domestic demand and a supply glut in some sectors," Tian Yun, editor-in-chief of the China Macroeconomic Information Network website under the China Society of Macroeconomics, told the Global Times on Thursday.

But Tian noted that the situation is not likely to improve very soon, and the high trade surplus will remain.

China's economic growth eased to 7.3 percent year-on-year in the third quarter. Experts noted that the economy is still facing downward pressure at present.

To add vitality to the economy, the government has rolled out targeted monetary easing policies such as lowering the reserve requirement for selected financial institutions in order to inject liquidity into the market. Also, the National Development and Reform Commissionrecently approved a slew of major infrastructure projects to help stabilize growth.

In the statement released on Thursday, the State Council said that efforts should be made to facilitate development of the Silk RoadEconomic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Firms are encouraged to invest in production facilities in countries along the two economic belts and increase imports of processed products, it said.

"Development of the two economic belts could help to open up western China," Bai told the Global Times, noting that eastern provinces have taken a major role in the country's opening-up in the past.

Multilateral economic cooperation along the two economic belts would benefit China's economy, but "measures should also be taken to boost domestic demand," Tian said.

The State Council also announced measures to boost imports in specific sectors on Thursday. For instance, it said that regulations should be drafted to guide the development of cross-border e-commerce.

Furthermore, the State Council proposed the launch of a trial program for "parallel" car imports in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, which would allow cars to be imported without necessarily going through brands' distribution networks. Experts noted that the move would greatly lower prices for imported vehicles.