The spring of 2023 is everything but ordinary.
Localities across China pressed the start button of the Year of the Rabbit with economic meetings chaired by leading government officials to encourage growth and spur recovery from the impact of COVID-19 on Saturday, the first working day after the week-long Spring Festival holidays.
As the central government has vowed to focus on achieving rapid economic recovery after optimizing pandemic response, local meetings, from South China's Guangdong Province to Northeast China's Jilin Province, mapped out specific measures aimed at accelerating domestic consumption recovery, improving local business environment and stabilizing foreign trade and investment.
Guangdong Province, an economic powerhouse with GDP growth of 1.9 percent in 2022, is eyeing growth at 5 percent for 2023 and an 8 percent increase of the fixed-assets investment.
The province has been known for its manufacturing industry worldwide with the industrial output exceeding 16 trillion yuan. More than 700 thousand manufacturers have settled in the province. In 2023, Guangdong will foster modern industries, promote industrial investment and construct industrial platforms to further high-quality development. It will boost the growth of industrial investment to above 10 percent and help 9000 industrial enterprises to upgrade technologies.
Guangdong will focus on the 20 strategic industries and enhance the 8 industrial clusters with 1 trillion yuan output, including electronic information, green petrochemicals, smart home appliances, advanced materials, modern light industry and textiles, software and information services, modern agriculture and food, and automobiles. It will also foster 3 more industrial clusters with 1 trillion yuan output and more than 4 with 500 billion yuan output.
Many provincial-level regions have announced measures to speed up the construction of key projects in 2023, especially in fields such as new energy, new materials, new technology, water resource management and transportation, which will inject impetus into the economy.
On Jan. 28, Shanghai’s Huangpu district announced 24 major projects, and 15 of them began the same day. The total investment exceeds 55.3 billion yuan. Moreover, the city's Yangpu district held a signing ceremony for key projects involving around 50 billion yuan in total spending.
On the same day, central China's Henan province started building over 1,270 projects worth 1.6 trillion yuan, involving infrastructure, urbanization, and digital economy. Moreover, Xiong’an New Area in Hebei province is planning to construct 43 projects worth 41.6 billion yuan in the first quarter.
There is significant potential for investment growth this year and in the future, experts noted, adding that regions are highly motivated to push infrastructure projects, and those related to transportation, energy, and water conservancy will be carried out steadily.
Driven by the continuous enhancement in support policies and the recovery of market demand, analysts predicted that the growth rate of emerging infrastructure investment is expected to range from 15 percent to 20 percent, which is 10 to 15 percentage points higher than the growth of general infrastructure investment.
Other regions have revealed similar plans. Guangdong province proposed to arrange 1,530 provincial key projects this year, with a total investment of about 8.4 trillion yuan. Northwestern China's Shaanxi province intends to implement 71 major infrastructure projects in 2023, with a total investment of 719.9 billion yuan, up 27 percent from a year earlier.
More incentive measures, including boosting consumption and optimizing the business environment, are also on the way.
An action plan consisting of 10 points was released by the Shanghai municipal government on Sunday. According to the plan, three tasks — boosting confidence, expanding demand and seeking stable growth — are imperative, with the city aiming to achieve above 5.5 percent GDP growth in 2023.
Specific measures include improving housing and medical policies to attract talent, subsidies for new energy vehicles and green smart home appliances, with 10,000 yuan for each electric vehicle and a one-time subsidy of up to 1,000 yuan for green and smart home appliance purchases, in a bid to boost consumption.
In neighboring Zhejiang Province, a major center of manufacturing, top government officials vowed to innovate and improve the quality of the digital economy and accelerate the implementation of major projects.
It also launched a global "Invest in Zhejiang" tour on January 9, shortly after China started to remove most of its Covid curbs at the end of November. The first stop was in Hong Kong on January 10.
Zhejiang province is also striving to attract foreign investments. In a bilingual letter to foreign-invested companies, Zhejiang's commerce department head Han Jie wrote that in 2023, the province will "attract global investment and cooperation with resolve, extraordinary measures and great efforts." The Hangzhou government will organize at least 30 outbound groups for overseas investment in the first quarter, while the Jiaxing government has sent out four groups and received investment agreements for five projects.
These actions show many governments are taking a more pro-growth stance, which will give a strong boost to the economy in 2023.
China's swiftly restart of work following the Spring Festival holidays came as international institutions, investors and financial institutions were buoyed by the country's economic outlook, seeing the recovery gain traction. It is clearly reflected by an ever so strong influx of northbound capital that reached over 140 billion yuan in January, the highest monthly net inflows in 10 years and the first monthly net inflows of more than 100 billion yuan.
According to the IMF latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released on Jan 31, China's economic growth is forecast to accelerate to 5.2 percent this year, thanks to the government's adjustment of its COVID-19 policy and the easing of monetary and fiscal policies.
随着春节假期的结束，从中央到地方，全力拼经济的“冲锋号”已经响起。
1月28日召开的国务院常务会议明确要求，持续抓实当前经济社会发展工作，推动经济运行在年初稳步回升，要深入落实稳经济一揽子政策和接续措施，推动重大项目建设、设备更新改造形成更多实物工作量，实施好原定延续执行的增值税减免等政策。
据不完全统计，截至1月30日，广东、山东、河北、湖北、浙江、江苏、上海、福建、甘肃、重庆、陕西等23个省份均召开“新春第一会”，纷纷鼓士气、划重点，同时还发布了一系列重磅文件，围绕扩大内需、优化营商环境、激发市场主体活力、推进创新深化等方面部署全年经济发展工作。
定调
时不我待，开局关乎全局。从各省“抢春”的高位部署来看，“全力拼经济”仍是统一主调：广东、江苏、山东、浙江、河南、四川等经济大省勇挑大梁、着力稳增长拼经济；扩投资、强创新、惠民企、促开放、推改革……各地政府工作报告的一系列新目标新举措，着力推动经济实现质的有效提升和量的合理增长。
GDP领跑全国的广东省以“高质量发展大会”定调，锚定2023年的经济发展目标，省内21个地级及以上市委书记悉数立下“军令状”，17个市现场宣布了2023年的GDP增速目标，其中13个市将之定在6％以上。2022年GDP增速1％的广州就位列其中，提出6％以上的增速目标、GDP要突破3万亿元，投资、消费、进出口要实现“三个1万亿”的目标。
江苏省将全年经济工作的“开头炮”立在第一季度，释放“开年就是开工、开工就要实干”的信号，推动稳经济一揽子政策举措落地见效，全力以赴抓项目建设；
浙江省强力聚焦创新，把实施数字经济创新提质、营商环境优化提升、“地瓜经济”提能升级列为全省三个“一号发展工程”；
而同为国家经济发展“顶梁柱”的山东，则以绿色低碳高质量发展先行区建设为“总抓手”展开一系列部署。
扩内需、稳增长
从新春“第一会”的具体部署安排，也可洞悉今年地方稳经济的重点、着力点。细看各地提出的“任务清单”，扩大内需均被放在重要位置，从恢复和扩大消费、扩大有效投资到释放城乡协调发展潜力，各地着力细化实化各项扩内需政策，畅通经济循环。
多地提出硬举措着力恢复和提振消费，各出奇招。例如，根据《上海市提信心扩需求稳增长促发展行动方案》，对个人消费者今年6月底前置换购买纯电动汽车的给予每辆车1万元财政补贴；市区联动发放文旅、体育、餐饮、零售等专项消费券。
北京发布《清理隐性壁垒优化消费营商环境实施方案》，提出将在重点商圈组织开展外摆试点，由区政府统筹组织相关部门划定外摆位，明确外摆时间、经营品类等细则。此外，北京还明确将合理放宽餐饮、连锁等业态进入限制，鼓励有条件的体育场馆、医院、公园、地铁、科技园区等单位引入品牌连锁便利店。
山东推出“放心消费在山东”深化提升十大行动，包括大力推行线下购物无理由退货，力争2023年底前全省承诺单位达到45万家，充分保障消费者线下购物“后悔权”，还鼓励符合条件的大型商超推行消费环节先行赔付，提升消费者信心。
辽宁省政府1号文件《辽宁省进一步稳经济若干政策举措》将推动消费复苏回暖、积极盘活存量资产单独成章。
优化营商环境也被不少省份摆在全年工作的突出位置。深化改革，更大程度激发市场主体活力。浙江日前公布《浙江省营商环境优化提升行动方案》，提出涉及四大领域的19条具体举措，在市场主体准入、准营、运营、退出等环节，解决一批堵点难点问题，实现企业办事无忧、政府无事不扰。山西将复制推广一批营商环境创新试点改革；湖北明确将“一业一证”改革行业拓展到25个以上。
上海市1月28日召开了2023年全市优化营商环境建设大会，同日《上海市加强集成创新持续优化营商环境行动方案》也公开发布，这一方案被称作“上海优化营商环境’6.0版’”，从深化重点领域对标改革、优化企业全生命周期监管服务、支持重点区域创新引领、加强组织保障等4个方面推出27大项、195小项任务举措。浙江提出，“强力推进创新深化，加快打造高水平创新型省份”“以更大力度实施数字经济创新提质‘一号发展工程’，推动以数字经济引领现代化产业体系建设取得新的重大进展”等。
除了把实现营商环境优化提升列入三大“一号工程”的浙江省，河北省也在1月28日召开全省优化营商环境企业家座谈会，提出用行政审批的“减法”赢得企业发展的“乘法”，让企业心无旁骛做实业、抓发展。广东高质量发展大会也将接近一小时的时间分配给各种形式的企业经营者代表发言，修复和提振市场经营主体的预期和信心。
“开工”
接下来，各地究竟要如何实现“开门红”？“狠抓重点项目”“开年即开工”已成关键词。1月的最后一天，北京市2023年第一批重大项目集中开工。此次集中开工的50个重大项目，总投资约486亿元。
济南将2023年定义为“项目突破年”，新春第一会就是工作动员大会，并直接喊出“项目为王”的口号，谋划三年内必须突出抓好十大领域的1301个重点项目，总投资24101.82亿元，今年投资2933.13亿元。广东今年要确保全年固定资产投资增长8％、基础设施投资和工业投资实现两位数以上增长，省重点项目完成投资1万亿元。浙江印发《浙江省扩大有效投资“千项万亿”工程2023年重大项目实施计划》；今年重庆计划实施市级重大建设项目1123个，年度计划投资较上年初增长18.5%；陕西计划2023年全省安排省级重点项目643个、年度计划投资4800多亿元。……各地真抓实干，努力将“规划图”变成“实景画”，利当前、惠长远。
专家表示，随着优化疫情防控各项措施有序实施、持续推动稳经济一揽子政策和接续措施全面落地生效，一季度正是经济企稳回升的窗口期，多地在开年之初就展现出了全力拼经济的决心，一季度经济“开门红”可期。
中国经济向上向好的积极信号，也给世界带来融融“暖意”。2月3日，国际货币基金组织（IMF）在一场聚焦中国经济的线上发布会上表示，由于中国早于预期的重新开放带来的私人部门消费反弹，中国2023年经济增速将从2022年的3%增长至5.2%。这比该组织在去年10月的预测高出0.8个百分点。IMF总裁格奥尔基耶娃近日形容中国经济恢复前景的世界意义“极其重要”，称这将是影响“2023年全球增长的最重要因素”。
Executive Editor: Sonia YU
Editor: LI Yanxia
Host: Stephanie LI
Writer: Stephanie LI
Sound Editor: Stephanie LI
Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni
Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.
Presented by SFC
编委: 于晓娜
策划、编辑：李艳霞
播音：李莹亮
撰稿：李莹亮
音频制作：李莹亮
设计：郑文静、廖苑妮
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