Political Bureau Meeting Sets Tone for Growth Eight Key Takeaways on Property Capital Markets and Monetary Policy

The Politburo meeting on April 28 reviewed the current economic situation and laid out economic work priorities. The meeting characterised the start of the year as positive, noting that major indicators have exceeded expectations and demonstrating strong resilience and vitality. It called for strengthened confidence and for authorities to adopt greater and more practical measures to support the economy.

Compared with prior Politburo sessions in April and July last year and the Central Economic Work Conference in December, this meeting introduced an explicit requirement that macro policy be “precise and effective,” while reiterating the focus on the “four stabilities” of employment, enterprises, markets and expectations. Policy priorities continue to emphasise tapping domestic demand and building a modern industrial system, with renewed emphasis on consumption upgrades and accelerated construction of new infrastructure networks — the “six networks.” The meeting also set out directives to maintain a reasonable manufacturing share, intensify remediation of “involution‑style” competition, and improve governance of artificial intelligence. On risk prevention and resolution, it reiterated efforts to stabilise the property market, resolve overdue payments to enterprises and stabilise and bolster confidence in capital markets.

Experts interviewed by reporters said that given the solid first‑quarter start, the immediate task is to fully deploy existing stock policies so that their benefits are fully realised. While the economy is on a moderate recovery path and endogenous drivers have improved, those drivers remain fragile, so macro policy should remain proactive to sustain the recovery.

The meeting’s assessment that major indicators have outperformed expectations while the foundation still needs consolidation conveys an optimistic but cautious view and signals policy continuity. Authorities anchored the next phase of work in high‑quality development, aligning with the new development philosophy and the dual circulation strategy, and coordinated development with security considerations. The agenda covers deepening reform and opening up, strengthening technological self‑reliance, and ensuring industrial chain autonomy and controllability.

Analysts noted the plan balances near‑term growth stabilisation with longer‑term structural transformation, with steady pacing and clear direction. The meeting also signalled more precise macro control, elevating services consumption and directing infrastructure investment toward water networks, new power grids and computing networks to unlock development potential. It called for systematic responses to external shocks, reflecting concern about rising international energy market uncertainty and its implications for energy security, price dynamics and agriculture.

Regional coordination and activation of cross‑regional factor flows were highlighted as means to enhance endogenous growth, with emphasis on strengthening the leading role of major growth poles and promoting integrated cooperation across government, industry, academia and finance to rebuild interregional collaboration models and advance regional innovation communities and industrial clusters.

The meeting stressed “precision and effectiveness” in implementing fiscal and monetary measures and called for full use of macro policies and consistency assessments of policy orientation. Fiscal policy led the first quarter with rapid spending progress, brisk issuance of new special bonds and coordinated fiscal‑financial measures to stimulate domestic demand, including prize‑invoice pilots. The launch of ultra‑long special sovereign bonds has been well received, and the fiscal toolkit remains ample.

Going forward, fiscal spending will be optimised and the grassroots “three guarantees” safeguarded, implying continued strong fiscal support for livelihood areas. Given rapid growth in first‑quarter health, social security and employment spending and signals to accelerate major project starts, livelihood spending is expected to remain robust in the second quarter though growth may moderate to free up room for infrastructure investment.

Resolving local government debt risks remains a priority. The meeting called for orderly debt resolution and tackling overdue payments to enterprises. Authorities are moving from fiscal‑led debt resolution toward market‑based approaches and accelerating reform of urban investment platforms. Issuance of special new bonds for arrears clearance exceeded last year’s level in the first quarter, and clearing arrears is seen as critical to restoring cash flow to micro‑entities and transmitting policy effects to investment and consumption.

The meeting directed that a moderately accommodative monetary stance be implemented with greater precision, forward‑looking flexibility and targeting, while maintaining ample liquidity. The People’s Bank of China is expected to increase support for structural monetary tools and keep liquidity loose. The central bank will calibrate tool usage and timing to market conditions, deploying broad easing measures if data weaken and relying on structural instruments if market operation remains stable. Authorities will also prudently manage the RMB exchange rate to keep it basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level, balancing appreciation pressures with export competitiveness and preventing disruptive capital flows.

The meeting reiterated the priority of tapping domestic demand and highlighted the growing importance of services consumption, which outpaced goods retail growth in the first quarter. Because services often require simultaneous production and consumption, supply‑side measures to expand quality goods and services and to upgrade service capacity are central to unlocking demand. On investment, the meeting specified the “six networks” — water, new power grids, computing networks, next‑generation communications, urban underground pipe networks and logistics — and called for starting major projects when conditions permit. Authorities plan to allocate substantial government investment funds by end‑June and to mobilise social capital through new policy financial instruments to sustain investment momentum.

The meeting elevated the campaign against “involution‑style” competition to a deeper phase, signalling a governance upgrade from outcome correction to root‑cause control. Measures will target localities’ subsidy‑driven competition and illegal incentives that fragment the national market, shifting incentives from preferential treatment to improved services and business environment. Policy tools under consideration include a national unified market regulation, a negative list for local investment incentives, fiscal and assessment reforms, and measures to force localities to compete on quality, innovation and efficiency.

The meeting called for full implementation of the “AI Plus” initiative, development of intelligent economic forms and improved AI governance. The intelligent economy is framed as an “intelligence‑native” model driven by AI, data and computing power, enabling systemic productivity gains through full‑chain penetration. Manufacturing, consumer electronics, healthcare and modern agriculture were identified as priority domains for early transformation. The meeting also highlighted governance challenges such as algorithmic bias, data misuse and deepfakes and called for rules, risk‑prevention mechanisms, innovation‑friendly institutions and trust‑building to ensure safe, controllable AI deployment.

Stabilising and strengthening capital market confidence with deeper reforms  
The meeting set stabilising and enhancing capital market confidence as a work priority. Authorities will continue to attract long‑term capital, improve listing quality, deepen market reforms and strengthen enforcement against fraud and market manipulation. Reforms aim to make long‑term capital a stabilising force, improve listed‑company quality, normalise dividends and buybacks, and build institutional mechanisms that allow markets to self‑repair.

Real estate policy remains framed within risk prevention, with explicit direction to stabilise the property market and advance urban renewal. Urban renewal is positioned as a central tool to activate stock assets, address livelihood shortfalls, support industrial development and ease inventory pressure, thereby promoting high‑quality development in a property market that has entered a stock‑centric phase. Authorities emphasised city‑specific measures and the dual‑track approach of targeted policies plus urban renewal to ensure a smooth transition to a new real‑estate model and to restore a virtuous cycle between housing development and income growth.