State Council committee stresses economic, financial stability

BEIJING -- The financial stability and development committee under China's State Council held a meeting on Wednesday, urging measures to keep the country's major economic indicators within an appropriate range and maintain stable operation of the capital market.

The meeting was presided over by Vice-Premier Liu He, also head of the committee and a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Concrete actions must be taken to bolster the economy in the first quarter, the meeting said, noting that monetary policy should take the initiative to cope with the situation, while new loans should maintain an appropriate growth.

On the regulation over US-listed Chinese firms, the meeting said the Chinese and the US regulatory bodies have maintained good communication and made positive progress. The two sides are working on a concrete cooperation plan.

The Chinese government will continue to support various enterprises to seek listings in the overseas markets, the meeting said.

For real estate enterprises, it is necessary to timely study and suggest effective risk prevention and mitigation solutions and put forward supporting measures for the transformation to a new development approach, said the meeting.

As for the platform economy, relevant departments should improve the established plans to govern the sector. They should steadily advance and complete the rectification work on large platform companies as soon as possible through standard, transparent, and predictable regulation, the meeting said.

Both "red lights" and "green lights" should promote the steady and healthy development of the platform economy and improve its international competitiveness.

The meeting urged enhanced communication and coordination between the regulators of the Chinese mainland and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to maintain the stability of the financial market in the HKSAR.

The meeting stressed that relevant authorities should earnestly shoulder their responsibilities, actively introduce market-friendly policies and prudently introduce policies with a contractionary effect.

Authorities should timely respond to issues that draw attention from the market, the meeting said.

Any policy that has a significant impact on the capital market should be coordinated with the financial regulatory authorities in advance to maintain stable and consistent expectations, the meeting said.

The financial stability and development committee will strengthen coordination and communication under the guidance of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council and hold relevant parties accountable if necessary, the meeting said.

The financial institutions should bear in mind the overall situation and firmly support the development of the real economy, the meeting said. It added that long-term institutional investors are welcome to increase their shareholding.

Chinese stocks closed up Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surging 3.48 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index jumping 4.02 percent.