China to allocate more resources to ensure employment, finance minister says

BEIJING (Reuters): China will allocate more fiscal resources to ensure employment, among other aspects of people's livelihoods, Finance Minister Lan Foan said on Sunday.

The country will prioritise support for science and technology innovation and manufacturing development, Lan said in a speech to the China Development Forum.

Calling attention to rising complexities and uncertainties of the external environment, he said the Chinese government is still "confident and capable of achieving full-year economic development goals".

In another development, with a comprehensive package of pro-market reforms, China could grow considerably faster than a status quo scenario, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday.

"This additional growth would amount to a 20% expansion of the real economy over the next 15 years, in today’s terms, that is like adding $3.5 trillion to the Chinese economy," Georgieva said in a speech to the China Development Forum.

Decisive steps to reduce the stock of unfinished housing and giving more space for market-based corrections in the property sector could accelerate a solution to current property sector problems and lift up consumer and investor confidence, she said. - Reuters