Full Text: Report on the Work of the Government (9)

We will take timely action to accelerate price reform.

This reform is aimed at ensuring the market plays the decisive role in allocating resources and significantly reducing the number of categories and items of goods and services for which prices are set by the government. In principle, we will lift pricing controls over all goods and services that can viably compete in markets. The government will stop setting prices for most pharmaceuticals and delegate to lower-level governments the power to set prices for certain basic public services.

We will expand the trials of pricing reforms for electricity transmission and distribution, carry out pricing reforms for water used in agriculture, and improve pricing policies to make them more conducive to energy conservation and environmental protection. We will improve the pricing of resource products and fully implement a system of tiered pricing for electricity, water, and natural gas used for household purposes. At the same time, we must strengthen oversight over pricing, improve market order, and ensure the basic living standards of people on low incomes.

We will ensure that progress is made in the reform of the fiscal and tax systems.

We will put in place a comprehensive, well-regulated, open, and transparent budgeting system. With the exception of cases where classified information is involved, all central and local government departments must release their budgets and final accounts for public oversight. We will increase the percentage of funds transferred from the budgets for state capital operations to general public budgets. We will introduce medium-term fiscal planning. We will design effective measures to make good use of government funds at hand.

We will devote serious energy to completing work to replace business tax with VAT across the board, adjust and improve policies on consumption tax, and extend price-based resource taxes to cover more types of resources. We will submit a proposal to the NPC Standing Committee on revising the Law on the Administration of Tax Collection.

We will reform the transfer payments system, clearly define the respective powers and spending responsibilities of the central and local governments, and make appropriate adjustments to the division of revenue between them.

We will move ahead with financial reform to better serve the real economy.

We will encourage qualified private investors to establish, in accordance with the law, small and medium-sized banks and other financial institutions; there will be no quota imposed on them, and approval will be granted as long as all required conditions are met. We will deepen reform of rural credit cooperatives, and keep their status as legal persons in their counties stable. We will ensure development-oriented and policy-backed financial institutions function effectively in increasing the supply of public goods.

A deposit insurance system will be established. We will further liberalize interest rates and improve the central bank' s framework for their regulation. We will work to keep the RMB exchange rate at an appropriate and balanced level and allow it to float more freely. We will make steady progress in realizing the convertibility of the RMB capital accounts, expand the use of the RMB internationally, accelerate the establishment of a cross-border payment system for the RMB, improve the worldwide clearing system for the RMB, pilot private overseas investment, and launch the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect on a trial basis at an appropriate time.

We will strengthen the multilevel capital market and implement the reform to introduce a system of registration for issuing stocks. We will develop regional equity markets to serve small and medium-sized enterprises, carry out trials of equity crowdfunding, encourage the securitization of credit assets, prompt an expansion of the issuance of corporate bonds, and develop the financial derivatives market. We will launch insurance to cover major disasters and commercial pension schemes that allow for deferred payment of individual income tax.

We will explore new approaches to financial regulation to prevent and diffuse financial risks. We will channel great energy into developing inclusive finance and ensuring equitable access to financial services for all market entities.

We will deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and state capital.

We will push forward with targeted reform of SOEs on the basis of having clearly defined their functions. We will move more swiftly in carrying out trials on establishing state capital investment companies and operating companies, create a market-based platform for state capital operations, and improve their performance.

We will take systematic steps to implement the reform of introducing mixed ownership to SOEs, and both encourage and regulate equity investment made by non-state capital in SOE investment projects. We will accelerate structural reform of the electricity, oil, and natural gas industries. We will work, through multiple channels, to relieve SOEs of their obligation to operate social programs and help them solve longstanding problems, while at the same time ensuring that the legitimate rights and interests of workers are protected. We will ensure that SOEs improve their modern corporate structure, and incentive and restraint mechanisms for their executives are reformed and strengthened. We will strengthen regulation of state-owned assets and guard against their loss, and ensure that SOEs improve their performance.

The non-public sector is an important component of China' s economy. We will remain firmly committed to encouraging, supporting, and guiding the development of this sector, work to enable entrepreneurs to give full expression to their talent, put into effect all policies and measures encouraging the development of the private sector, strengthen the vitality of enterprises under all types of ownership, and protect the property rights of all types of enterprise-legal persons in accordance with the law. (mo