At the State Council Executive Meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang, a raft of policy measures were decided upon to secure foreign trade orders and upgrade China’s trading structure. Attendees emphasized the crucial role of stable foreign trade in ensuring steady growth and job security, building a new development paradigm, and pursuing high-quality growth. To achieve these goals, targeted policies will be implemented to ensure the stable performance of foreign trade and help enterprises secure orders and explore market opportunities. Efforts will be made to stabilize exports to developed economies, while also encouraging enterprises to explore markets of developing countries and Southeast Asia.
The meeting stressed the need to leverage the leading role of provincial-level regions with significant foreign trade activity and encourage localities to roll out supportive policies that best suit their conditions to enhance policy synergy. It was also recognized that now is a crucial time for economic recovery, and pragmatic and effective policy measures will be introduced whenever and wherever needed to promote overall improvement in economic performance on an ongoing basis.
In addition, policy steps were decided upon to alleviate the burdens facing financially strapped college graduates. Interest payments on government-subsidized student loans will be waived for those due to graduate this year or have already graduated, and extensions of principal repayments for these loans will be extended for another year. No punitive interest payments or compound interest will be collected on loan deferrals. Greater policy and fund support will be channeled to enterprises that hire college graduates in large numbers, and more graduates will be encouraged to provide community-level services to boost job creation.
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