context: Monday’s meeting with local cadres tasked with managing finance serves to reiterate the two main lines of the centre’s financial policy making since October 2023’s Central Financial Work Conference: having finance serve the real economy, or more concretely productive activities, and preventing systemic risk. The identification of potential systemic risk sources comes as real estate developers continue to falter, local governments have nearly frozen bond issuance due to fears over excessive debt levels and regional lenders are undergoing consolidations.
A symposium with local party financial heads was held in Beijing on 21 May 2024, focusing on financial work. Premier Li Qiang 李强 in a written address said
- building a financial power is the objective
- orderly advance reform of the financial management system
- prevent risk
- strengthen regulation
- maintain the fundamental objective of finance serving the real economy
- financing the five financial targets
- local and central government coordination
- prevent systemic risk
Vice Premier He Lifeng 何立峰 addressed the symposium in person, emphasising
- long-term objective: building a financial power
- short-term objective: preventing systemic risk
- state is coordinating prevention and control of risk in
- real estate
- local governments
- regional small and medium-sized lenders
- need to strengthen regulation of local financial organisation
- coordinate regulation of regional lenders
- realise financial high-quality development through support for real economy’s development
- create model party institutions