BEIJING, China (Reuters) — China said on Monday (March 6) continued economic growth needed to maintain employment, and will take further steps to support private investment.
“Because China is a country with almost 1.4 billion people, employment is a really important issue. Without a certain level of economic growth, a certain quality of economic growth, creating enough employment opportunities would be very difficult. Based on our experience and understanding of the rules roughly, every increase in the economy of one percentage point can create roughly 1.7 million jobs,” said newly appointed National Development and Reform Commission chairman He Lifeng at a press conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress.
The commission also said it would do more to support private investment after disappointing figures for 2016. Though it pointed out that a decrease was to be expected as the economy contracted as private investment was generally more sensitive to fluctuations in the economy.
“Fierce competition in the market and unclear future prospects for the market mean that there was a slowdown in private investment last year, that was the situation last year. I think from this we can see one thing which is that the market mechanism is working,” said NDRC deputy chairman Zhang Yong.
“(We will) further streamline the government and delegate powers to create a better environment for private investment. Thirdly, we will lower barriers to entry, this was speciality mentioned in the Premier’s work report yesterday, the fourth thing is that we will improve our services,” he added.
Private investment is steadying and measures taken to boost investment are showing results, he added.
Fixed asset investment by private firms rose 3.2 percent last year after double digit growth in previous years.