On August 23, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference on “Actively Contribute Business Strength and Strive to Promote a Well-off Society in an All-round Way”. The Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said that the second half of the year will mainly focus on inter-cycle adjustments to keep foreign trade within a reasonable range. Prevent great ups and downs from harming economic growth and market players.

Wang Wentao said that foreign trade promotes stable economic development. From the perspective of 2020, my country’s foreign trade scale has reached 4.6 trillion U.S. dollars, with an international market share of 14.7%, a record high, and a 28% contribution to economic growth. At the same time, foreign trade has enriched the supply in the domestic market. Employment and taxation have been expanded, and foreign trade has created employment of about 180 million people.

Wang Wentao revealed that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, foreign trade has contributed 11% of total fiscal revenue, while foreign exchange reserves have remained at around US$3 trillion. “In the past, we were already the largest country in trade in goods. Last year, the total trade in goods and services ranked first in the world.”

From January to July this year, foreign trade continued to maintain a momentum of rapid growth, with a growth rate of 24.5%, a record high in the past ten years. But Wang Wentao said, “There are many factors here, and there are many one-off factors. So how do you look at the first half of next year? We think the situation is very serious. It is impossible for one-off factors to last for that long.” For example, some are because of the intensification of the epidemic in surrounding areas. There will be some return of orders, and as the epidemic gradually slows down, the returned orders may be transferred out again. There are also some anti-epidemic materials. At the beginning, the export volume was greatly increased due to the impact of the epidemic, but now it has dropped significantly. These one-time factors are gradually disappearing.

“So we see that the growth in the second half of the year is gradually slowing down, and the situation next year may be very severe. At the same time, we started to recover in the second half of last year, with a relatively high base. So this recovery cannot continue to be that high. We hope this Recovery is gradual and slow, and the final growth is within a reasonable range.” Wang Wentao said that the macroeconomic policy should strengthen inter-cyclical adjustments so that the range of economic fluctuations can be within a reasonable range and prevent major fluctuations from harming economic growth and market entities. Therefore, the second half of the year will mainly focus on inter-cycle adjustments to keep foreign trade within a reasonable range. That is, the four aspects of stabilizing growth, promoting innovation, maintaining smooth flow, and expanding cooperation.

Stable growth is mainly about stabilizing the main body and stabilizing orders. There are still some difficulties that are commonly encountered internationally, such as the impact of transportation capacity and the rise in freight rates, the rise of commodities and raw materials, the pressure of RMB exchange rate appreciation, and the increase in labor costs. These are the problems encountered by foreign trade companies. The “four difficulties”, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, are even more difficult, so a series of measures must be taken to stabilize market players and stabilize orders.

To promote innovation, in addition to traditional foreign trade, we also vigorously promote the development of new formats and models of foreign trade, such as cross-border e-commerce, support the export of high-tech, high-quality, and high-value-added products, and increase the overseas promotion of Chinese brands. Keep unblocked and ensure unblocked foreign trade industrial chain and supply chain. Expanding cooperation means deepening international economic and trade cooperation.

Article source: cover news