China's top leaders vow to roll out stronger economic support

Pledges made at atypical Politburo meeting signal urgency to fix nation's economic woes

- joyce ZK Lim

China's top leaders have pledged stronger support for the economy, in an atypical meeting on Sept 26 that signals greater urgency on their part to address the country's economic woes.

The Communist Party's 24-man decision-making body, or Politburo, stressed the need to provide more fiscal and monetary support, stop the decline in the property market, and strive to achieve the country's annual economic targets, which include gross domestic product (GDP) growth of around 5 per cent for 2024.

While reiterating that the Chinese economy's fundamentals remained strong, the leaders acknowledged that "some new situations and problems" had emerged, according to an official readout from state news agency Xinhua that did not elaborate on the latter.

They called for a greater sense of responsibility and urgency in carrying out economic work, and for the roll-out of policies to be stepped up.

The timing of the meeting, chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping, was unusual. Politburo meetings that focus on the economy do not typically take place in September.

This deviation from the norm "is likely due to a ramped-up urgency to attempt to meet this year's growth target", said Mr Lynn Song, chief China economist at ING Bank.