【09.11.28 WsNews】Beijing Plans to Continue Its Stimulus Next Year

渔音谦谦

Beijing Plans to Continue Its Stimulus Next Year
By ANDREW BATSON BEIJING -- China's top leadership said it will keep policies to support growth in place through 2010, despite concerns about the effects of more powerful stimulus on the world's fastest-growing major economy.
The ruling Politburo of China's Communist Party met Friday to discuss economic policy for next year, and decided it will "maintain the continuity and stability of economic policies, and continue to implement the proactive fiscal policy and loose monetary policy," according to a statement carried by China Central Television, the state broadcaster.
That is the same language the government has used to describe its stimulus efforts this year, which have resulted in bank lending and capital expenditure growing by more than 30%. The Politburo, comprised of the Communist Party's 25 most powerful officials, also said it will "focus more on improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth," and promised more policies to support consumer spending and support investment by private-sector companies. (See related article on page B3.)
The government left itself room for further gradual changes in the mix of policies through next year. But the statement is far from mapping out an "exit strategy" from the stimulus into a longer-term plan for sustainable growth, as some analysts have urged.
Other economies, including Australia, Norway and Vietnam, have raised interest rates recently, even though they aren't growing as fast as China is now. Many Chinese economists and officials are also airing worries that continued stimulus is leading to wasted investment, excess capacity and other problems.
"China's monetary policy is too loose. ... Asset bubbles are returning with a vengeance," Yu Yongding, a prominent Chinese economist and former central-bank adviser, said in a speech in Sydney this week. "The very expansionary fiscal and monetary policies have succeeded in arresting a fall in growth. However, the medium- and long-term impacts of the expansionary policies are worrying," he said.
The government's broad rhetoric is likely intended more to reassure domestic businesses and financial markets than to provide a precise guide to how it will adjust economic policy in the coming year. Over the past few months China has scaled back bank lending and reduced the boost to the economy from the government budget.
These changes happened even as officials consistently said they weren't shifting gears in the stimulus -- and the International Monetary Fund and others have said some support to China's economy is still justified given the weak global outlook. But the modest shifts in direction have done little to ease fears that the flood of money going into the economy will push up prices of stocks, houses and other assets.



原文地址：http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125934519959366715.html