Interview: China will strive to enhance fiscal policy effectiveness: finance minister

BEIJING, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's finance minister said the country will enhance the effectiveness of its proactive fiscal policy and implement existing policies well amid efforts to ensure high-quality economic development and defuse local government debt risks.

The country will frontload part of its special-purpose local government bond quota set for 2024, and enhance fund management and efficiency, Lan Fo'an said in an interview with Xinhua.

The special-purpose local government bond is a well-regulated scheme for local governments to secure financing, and plays an important role in driving effective investment and supporting economic recovery, Lan said.

He added that since the beginning of this year, the ministry has expedited the process of the special bond issuance, moderately expanded its investment areas, promoted the construction of key projects, and catalyzed effective investment from the private sector.

In the first nine months of this year, the new special-purpose bonds for project construction amounted to 3.3 trillion yuan (about 459.7 billion U.S. dollars), which helped underpin high-quality economic and social development, Lan said.

The ministry will work with other departments to ensure the implementation of existing tax and fee reduction measures to support business entities and consolidate the economic recovery, he added.

Efforts will also be made to improve fund management and efficiency, and guard against risks. Tighter supervision and fund management throughout all links will be put in place for the special-purpose bonds while strengthening performance management to prevent the funds from staying idle, the finance minister said.

China's economy has maintained an upward trend in the first three quarters, which ensured the increase in fiscal revenue and laid a solid foundation for the country to achieve the full-year budget target, he noted.

The country's fiscal revenue rose 8.9 percent year on year to 16.67 trillion yuan in the January-September period, while fiscal expenditure expanded 3.9 percent to 19.79 trillion yuan, according to data from the ministry. Tax revenue, in particular, climbed 11.9 percent during the period, boosted by the country's continued economic recovery.