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Jilin makes moves to drive growth

By Liu Mingtai (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-19 08:00

Officials and experts gather at a forum in Changchun to discuss development of cities in northeast China.

As the world struggles with the most severe financial crisis in decades, the provincial government and other local authorities in northeast China's Jilin province are taking measures to stimulate market demand and sustain a rapid and healthy economic growth.

In the first nine months of the year Jilin maintained a robust growth, ranking it among rapidly growing provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China.

But since October some of its industries and businesses have had difficulty due to the impact of the global financial crisis.

Responding to the central government's call for spending to stimulate growth, the provincial government has mapped out financial and fiscal policies to increase investment in infrastructure construction and further reorganize its industrial structure to encourage modern agriculture and service industries.

The moves are also meant to stabilize exports, improve the social security system, increase resident incomes, offer more support to private enterprises, promote energy saving and emission reductions and encourage capacity building through technical innovation.

"The global financial crisis is a big challenge for Jilin's economy, but with the implementation of such measures the province is expected to embrace more opportunities for a sustained and healthy development," Wang Min, secretary of the Jilin Committee of the Communist Party of China, told a recent provincial Party congress.

Seven measures

Large cities in Jilin, including the capital Changchun, Jilin city, Songyuan, Baishan and Tonghua, have responded to provincial decisions with their own measures.

To sustain growth and battle the financial crisis, the Changchun city government has formulated seven measures, including more investment in key industrial and infrastructure projects.

About 150 large projects are underway, including expansion of automobile and auto parts production, construction of a 1-million-ton corn ethanol project and a series of urban construction facilities. Annual growth in fixed-asset investment is expected to remain at 30 percent in the city.

As global businesses view China as a safe destination for their investments, Jilin also has plans to support the sound and rapid growth of its development zones and industrial parks.

Recognizing the difficulties now faced by small and medium-sized enterprises, the city will establish a special fund to offer them credit guarantees.

In addition, local government is making new initiatives for healthy development of the real estate industry, including reducing transaction taxes and building more affordable houses for low-income families.

Lower taxes are meant to stimulate consumer spending on automobiles, tourism, sports and cultural activities, the city government said.

Changchun has registered more than 13 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in the past three years. This year it expects GDP to grow 15 percent after the figure hit 16.5 percent for the first 10 months of the year.

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