China will speed up the release of measures to stimulate consumption, the state planner said yesterday after announcing disappointing economic data.
The National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday that more practical policies will be rolled out to strengthen consumption of big-ticket items, including automobiles and electronic products, to expand spending in rural areas and boost consumer sentiment.
The NDRC would continue its efforts to increase resident income in various channels, which is a must to boost consumption.
In particular, the NDRC vowed to promote the employment of youth after people aged from 16 to 24 hit a new high in unemployment rate in June.
It comes after China's second-quarter economic data disappointed the markets and deepened concerns that the country could miss its full-year gross domestic product growth goal of about 5 percent this year.
The NDRC promised to continue removing barriers that restrict private enterprises from fair play in market competition.
Minister of Commerce, Wang Wentao said China would keep communication lines open with foreign companies.
Standard Chartered Hong Kong lowered China's GDP growth forecast for the third quarter by 2 percentage points to 5.3 percent, but maintained 5.4 percent for this year. The bank also expects the yuan could dip to 7.3 to the US dollar this quarter.
The People's Bank of China might lower the reserve requirement ratio by 25 basis points in this quarter and in the first quarter of next year, said Standard Chartered.
