An employee at a kitchenware factory works on the production line in Binzhou, East China's Shandong Province on Sunday. Under the local government's guidance, companies have gradually resumed operations amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Photo: IC

Despite the new virus outbreak, China is capable of achieving its 2020 targets for economic and social development including key tasks such as building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, thanks to effective virus countermeasures and business resumption, an official said on Monday.

The novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic doesn't change the sound fundamentals of China's economy in the long-term, with huge consumption temporarily delayed rather than disappearing, Cong Liang, an official of the National Development of Reform Commission, told reporters at a press briefing in Beijing on Monday.

Domestic production and business operations are gradually recovering. According to Cong, over 90 percent of large-scale industrial enterprises in East China's Zhejiang Province have resumed production, while those in key provinces like East China's Jiangsu Province and South China's Guangdong Province have also surpassed 70 percent.

67.4 percent of steel companies across the country have reopened, and non-ferrous metal companies have reached an 86.3 percent open rate, Cong said.

China's policy toolkit and development potential are still sufficient, he said, noting that the country will ramp up precise efforts to strengthen areas of weakness in order to improve the quality and efficiency of economic development.

Chen Yulu, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the same conference that the central bank will continue to adjust its targeted reserve requirement ratio cut policy, noting that nearly 1,000 enterprises have received refinancing.