Lujiazui Photo:VCG

The Chinese economy has passed its most challenging period, and the economy is expected to show an overall improvement in 2023 despite an uncertain environment, a senior official said on Saturday.

"2022 is a special and extremely difficult year for the development of China's economy, but the country withstood the test and challenges of unimaginable factors," Yin Yanlin, deputy director of the General Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, said at a forum held in Beijing on Saturday, according to a report by Beijing Daily on the same day.

Yin pointed to three unimaginable factors that loomed as negative impacts on China's economy, including COVID-19 flare-ups, a volatile international environment manifested by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and certain Western countries' escalating containment of China's development, as well as the US' sharp financial tightening.

While there is a gap between the country's GDP growth rate with the annual target set at the beginning of 2022, structural indexes including development quality and scientific and technological innovation have staged sound performance, Yin said. He said that the labor market and price of goods had maintained fundamental stability, and grain and energy security as well as people's livelihoods were effectively protected, guaranteeing overall economic and social stability.

"We should have full confidence for the overall improvement in China's economy in 2023," Yin said, noting that this is the target set by the Central Economic Work Conference that was held from December 14 to 15 and it is the probable development trend of the Chinese economy.

Along with the optimization of China's anti-COVID-19 measures, the movement of people and commodities will become smoother and the recovery of all aspects of economic and social activities will pick up, which will work jointly to effectively release economic vitality, he said.

According to the Central Economic Work Conference, the country will step up management of the supply side of the real estate sector while reducing demand restrictions so as to ensure stable development of the property sector. Moreover, proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy will continue to be implemented next year, with more private sector capital to be deployed, Yin said. He stressed that a series of policies will promote economic recovery.

The sustainable development of China's economy has sound basis and conditions, Yin said. China's sound economic fundamentals remain unchanged, with strong resilience, enormous potentials, and great vitality, and the sound trend of strong new growth momentum and increasingly optimized economic structure also remain unchanged.

"The diligent and brave Chinese people's strong wiliness for a better life means great momentum and vitality that will boost the development of the economy. China's advancement for modernization will not halt," he said, noting that the dawn for fast economic recovery is just ahead.

Global Times