BEIJING: China’s sweeping government restructuring plan gives President Xi Jinping more direct control over the levers of money and power by consolidating, creating or eliminating dozens of agencies.
The plan presented to the National People’s Congress yesterday leaves 26 cabinet-level ministries tasked with regulating industries and initiatives at the heart of Xi’s policy agenda. Their duties range from curbing risk in the country’s US$43 trillion banking and insurance sectors to overseeing aid programmes for the president’s Belt and Road trade-and-infrastructure initiative.