Li Keqiang presides over the regular executive meeting of the State Council.
　　Listen to the report on the supervision and service efforts to stabilize the overall economy, and deploy measures to fully unleash the effectiveness of policies and accelerate the expansion of effective demand.
　　Identify measures to further optimize the business environment and reduce institutional transaction costs, continuously easing the burden on market entities and boosting their vitality.
　　On August 31, Premier Li Keqiang presided over an executive meeting of the State Council, listened to a report on efforts to stabilize the overall economy and provide guidance and services, and outlined plans to fully unleash the effectiveness of existing policies and accelerate the expansion of effective demand. The meeting also adopted measures to further optimize the business environment and reduce institutional transaction costs, continuing to ease burdens and boost the vitality of market entities.
　　The meeting pointed out that we must implement the arrangements made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, keep economic operations within a reasonable range, and strive for the best possible outcomes. In response to unexpected shocks affecting economic performance, we should make full use of the policy tools accumulated over the past two years, promptly and decisively introducing a comprehensive package of policies to stabilize the economy as well as follow-up measures. Given that market entities are facing greater difficulties in some areas than in 2020, this year’s tax refunds, tax reductions, and fee cuts will exceed those of 2020. We have also introduced strong policies aimed at stabilizing investment and boosting consumption. Overall, the scale of these policies is appropriate and moderate. At present, we are at a critical juncture in economic recovery, making it essential to accelerate the release of policy effectiveness. Recently, the State Council dispatched working groups to major economic provinces to provide guidance and services focused on stabilizing the overall economy and resolving a number of difficult and bottleneck issues on-site. We must continue to act swiftly and meticulously to ensure effective implementation, further leveraging the “delegation, regulation, and service” reform approach to enhance the effectiveness of the comprehensive economic stabilization policies. Detailed implementation rules for follow-up policies should be issued as soon as possible—in early September—and efforts should focus on expanding effective demand, stimulating investment, driving consumption, creating more jobs, consolidating the foundation for economic recovery, and enhancing long-term development momentum. First, building on the effective use of the newly added policy-based development financial instruments worth over 300 billion yuan, we should expand their scale according to actual needs, ensuring that eligible, mature projects receive sufficient funding and avoiding situations where projects wait for funds. Projects started in the first half of the year should be included in the scope of support, and previously eligible projects that were not funded due to quota limitations should automatically be brought under support, thereby generating more physical work volume in the third quarter and providing timely market demand for manufacturers and individual business operators. Second, we should broaden the scope of support from the policy-based development financial instruments to include old residential area renovations and provincial expressways, while doing our utmost to attract private investment. Third, we should promptly introduce policies supporting equipment upgrades and renovations for manufacturing enterprises and vocational colleges. Fourth, we should guide commercial banks to increase medium- and long-term loan disbursements, ensuring adequate financing for key project construction and equipment upgrades and renovations. This will also help expand effective credit demand. Relevant departments should refine bank assessment mechanisms, and banks should improve internal evaluation systems and provisions for due diligence and exemption from liability, thus establishing effective incentive mechanisms. Fifth, for key projects, we should continue adopting centralized office operations and parallel processing methods to improve approval efficiency and strengthen guarantees for essential factors. Local governments, within their respective responsibilities and authorities, may make commitments regarding land use, environmental impact assessments, and other procedures, and complete the necessary formalities after projects are launched according to regulations. Sixth, we should support both rigid and improvement-oriented housing demands. Localities should make good use of their policy toolkits on a “city-by-city” basis, flexibly applying phased credit policies and special loans for ensuring housing delivery. We should also promote large-scale consumption, such as automobiles. Seventh, the State Council will dispatch another batch of supervision and service working groups to several provinces to facilitate policy implementation. Timely inspections and follow-ups will be conducted, with a particular focus on verifying the physical work volume completed in the third quarter and the completion of related procedures. Eighth, localities should also establish supervision and service mechanisms. Key project construction should proceed without delay, guided by the principles of achieving returns, ensuring that funds are not misappropriated, and maintaining high-quality engineering standards.
　　The meeting pointed out that reform is an extremely important tool in the policy toolbox. We must adhere to using reform to unleash vitality and further reduce institutional transaction costs for market entities. Specifically, this includes thoroughly addressing illegal fees levied on enterprises, strictly defining the boundaries of governmental powers, and rigorously investigating and punishing arbitrary fines and excessive tax and fee collection. We will also implement a one-time licensing system for similar products in industrial production. Strengthen regulatory oversight, crack down severely on counterfeit and substandard goods, and safeguard fair competition. Moreover, we will improve mechanisms for identifying and handling clues related to problems in the business environment.
　　The meeting discussed other matters.