China to continue prudent, neutral monetary policy in 2018

BEIJING - China will continue to adopt a prudent and neutral monetary policy and a proactive fiscal policy in 2018, according to a statement released after the Central Economic Work Conference concluded Wednesday.

"Prudent monetary policy should be kept neutral, the floodgates of monetary supply should be controlled, and credit and social financing should see reasonable growth," the statement said. "Meanwhile, the proactive orientation of fiscal policy will be maintained, while the structure of fiscal spending should be optimized," it said.

Concrete measures will be taken to strengthen the regulation of local government debt.