China to keep steady policies, deepen reforms in 2013

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will maintain a "prudent" monetary policy and a pro-active fiscal policy in 2013, leaving room for maneuver in the face of global uncertainties, the official Xinhua news agency said after the country's annual policy-setting conference on Sunday.

Chinese leaders will also push forward the next stage of economic reforms "with greater political courage and wisdom", the agency said.

"China will continue to implement the pro-active fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy in 2013," Xinhua said after the close of the annual Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing, the first such meeting under the new Communist Party leadership.

China's central bank has kept the prudent monetary policy since late 2010, that has encapsulated at first modest tightening and then modest loosening following the global financial crisis.

Fiscal policy has been pro-active, or expansionary, since late 2008, when Beijing unveiled a 4 trillion yuan stimulus package after the economy took a big hit during the global financial crisis.

China's annual economic growth dipped to 7.4 percent in the third quarter - the weakest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis in early 2009, - but growth has been picking up steady since October thanks to a raft of pro-growth policies.

China's vast manufacturing sector expanded in December at its fastest pace in 14 months as new orders and employment rose, a survey showed on Friday, adding to evidence of a pick-up in the economy that helped to boost market sentiment.

The government will maintain its property controls next year to ward off potential risks, Xinhua said, and will make greater efforts to improve the quality of urbanization to help bolster domestic demand, Xinhua said.

Communist Party chief Xi Jinping has signaled a commitment to deepening economic reforms by visiting the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen last week - echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping during his famous "southern tour" to the same area 20 years ago.

The closed-door Central Economic Work Conference brings together China's top leadership, provincial officials, ministers, regulators and the central bank chief as well as the heads of the top state firms and banks.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Sui-lee Wee; Editing by Jonathan Standing and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-keep-steady-policies-deepen-reforms-2013-094718200--business.html

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