A bullet train tests operations along the high-speed railway line connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou in North China's Hebei Province in November. . Photo: VCG

As downward pressure on the Chinese economy is expected to continue in 2020 amid internal and external uncertainties, the policymakers are expected to focus on stabilizing growth next year with larger tax and fee cuts for businesses and more proactive fiscal and monetary stimulus, analysts said on Sunday.

A pace-setting meeting of the top Chinese policymakers on Friday struck the same tone over the need to keep economic growth stable in 2020, a critical year for some of China's long-term development goals. They called for more robust efforts in macro tools, reform and opening-up steps, and more investment in infrastructure and high technology projects.

"2020 will be both the most important and most challenging year for China," Cao Heping, an economist at the Peking University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday, pointing to both internal and external challenges.

The world's second-largest economy is already under heavy pressure from a sizable structural transition at home, a lingering trade war with the US and a volatile global economy, and those challenges will persist in the New Year, if not worsen, analysts said. 

Some economists have even predicted that GDP growth could fall below the psychologically important level of 6 percent in 2020. Many also predict that the trade war with the US is also likely to go on, as trade talks often hits bumps because of the US' lack of sincerity and its intention to contain China's rise.

"Against such a grim outlook, the top priority will be stabilizing growth because that is the answer to all of the challenges we face, whether it's our own domestic development goals or the trade war with the US," Li Daxiao, chief economist at Shenzhen-based Yingda Securities, told the Global Times on Sunday.

The meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the top decision-making body, on Friday also stressed that growth needs to be kept in a "reasonable range" and the focus should be on "running China's own affairs well," according to the Xinhua News Agency. 

The meeting sets the tone for the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference, a closely watched event where the policymakers outline top policy priorities for the coming year.

Specifically, China will likely take more drastic measures to ease burdens on businesses, boost fiscal spending on infrastructure and other projects and adopt relatively easier monetary policy, analysts said.

"Of all these top priorities, the most important part is to help businesses. If businesses are doing well, growth will stabilize and jobs will be created," Li said, noting that even more tax and fee cuts for companies in 2020 are likely. 

In 2019, China aims to cut taxes and fees totaling 2 trillion yuan ($284.3 billion) for companies.

The meeting on Friday also called for continued to reform and opening-up efforts, increased investment in infrastructure projects and science and technology innovation.
Newspaper headline: Stabilizing growth key amid uncertainties