China to continue proactive fiscal policy in 2011

BEIJING -- China will continue to implement its proactive fiscal policy in 2011 and better handle the relations between maintaining steady and relatively fast economic development, restructuring the economy and managing inflation expectations, Finance Minister Xie Xuren said Monday.

Xie, speaking at a national finance work conference, said that finance departments across the country should put more focus on stabilizing overall commodity prices next year to promote stable and relatively fast economic development and maintain social stability.

He called for more efforts to raise people's incomes and boost domestic consumption. "The country will continue the reform in income distribution systems and strive to increase residents' incomes, especially those with lower salaries to boost people's consumption power," Xie said.

The country should keep the fiscal deficit and government-led investment at a reasonable level in 2011, while optimizing investments, he said.

Further, China will improve its tax policy and let the policy play a larger role in adjusting income distribution while reducing income inequalities.

China will also improve the structure of fiscal expenditure in order to ensure and improve people's livelihoods next year, said Xie, who added that great efforts should be made to support economic restructuring and a coordinated regional development, in a bid to advance the transformation of the economic growth mode.