We will make better use of the role of infrastructure development in stabilizing growth

Infrastructure is an important support for economic and social development. Strengthening infrastructure development is not only a strong measure to strengthen weak areas, but also an effective means to boost demand. It is of great significance to smooth the domestic cycle, promote the double cycle at home and abroad, and promote high-quality development.

The Party Central Committee and The State Council attach great importance to infrastructure construction. On the basis of the previous package of policies to stabilize the economy, the executive meeting of The State Council held recently once again put forward 19 successive policy measures, and clearly asked to continue to do a good job in infrastructure construction. The previous meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and the 11th meeting of the Financial and Economic Commission of the CPC Central Committee were also deployed on comprehensively strengthening infrastructure construction.

At present, the lack of effective demand is one of the main factors affecting the recovery and development of our economy. In this situation, to expand domestic demand, play the key role of effective investment, and further strengthen infrastructure construction is an important starting point.

Since the beginning of this year, affected by some factors exceeding expectations, China's economic growth has experienced some fluctuations, and the overall downward pressure has increased. In the first seven months of this year, fixed-asset investment grew 5.7% year on year, maintaining a relatively high growth rate, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Infrastructure investment is even stronger, up 7.4% year on year, providing strong support for the economic recovery. At this stage, continuing to give full play to the positive role of infrastructure investment is of great significance for stabilizing the economic fundamentals.

To better leverage the role of infrastructure development in stabilizing growth, we must speed up the building of a modern infrastructure system. On the one hand, it is necessary to improve the level of traditional infrastructure, open up the "capillaries", take networking, network replenishment and strong chain as the focus of construction, strengthen the construction of network-based infrastructure such as transportation, energy and water conservancy, and strive to improve network efficiency. On the other hand, it is necessary to speed up the construction of new infrastructure, accelerate the layout and construction of digital infrastructure such as a new generation of supercomputing, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence platforms, strengthen the construction of comprehensive transportation hubs and collection and distribution systems, and achieve structural optimization through precise policies. By making up for the shortcomings of infrastructure, boosting demand, alleviating the current lack of domestic demand, while tapping new market demand, promoting the landing of new industries and new scenarios, and accelerating infrastructure to promote the optimization of economic structure.

To better leverage the role of infrastructure development in stabilizing growth, we need to further create a sound investment and financing environment. Among the 19 policy measures to stabilize the economy recently introduced, it is clearly proposed to increase the quota of more than 300 billion yuan on the basis of the 300 billion yuan policy development financial instruments that have fallen into the project. The relevant departments also continued to release the reform and transmission effect of the quoted interest rate of the loan market, for the first time, new infrastructure was included in the scope of local special bonds, and actively promoted banking financial institutions, REITs funds and other investment in major new infrastructure construction projects, further stimulating the enthusiasm of social capital investment.

It should be pointed out that to better leverage the role of infrastructure development in stabilizing growth, we need to adhere to the principle of moderate advance, balance the requirements of short-term stable growth and long-term structural adjustment, and balance both economic and comprehensive accounts, so as to maximize the leverage effect of infrastructure investment and inject stronger impetus into economic growth.