China to hold key meeting to discuss financial reforms next week
(Reuters) – China’s leaders will hold a key meeting to discuss deepening financial reforms between November 9 and November 12, the official Xinhua news agency said, as the ruling Communist Party looks to set its economic agenda for the next decade.
The meeting marks the third time China’s 200-member Central Committee has gathered since last year’s leadership change. Historically, such meetings, known as third plenums, have been a springboard for economic change in China.
The meeting “must be a new historical beginning that comprehensively deepens reforms,” Xinhua said on Tuesday, citing a meeting of the elite Politburo.
No details were given on what changes will be pursued and in what manner, but where conditions for reform are ripe change must be rolled out quickly, Xinhua said.
Analysts and investors are eagerly awaiting the outcome of the meeting in the hope that it will outline a growth strategy for the world’s No. 2 economy as it matures and enters a stage of slower expansion. However, political reforms are not expected to be a major part of the meeting.
China’s leaders are trying to shift the economy away from a reliance on exports and investment and more towards consumption. That may mean the economy slows, but the leaders hope it will provide the basis for a more sustainable pace of expansion after years of double-digit growth. The government sees GDP rising this year by 7.5 percent, which would be its weakest increase in more than two decades.
