Resolutely Stabilize The Fundamentals Of Foreign Trade And Foreign Investment

Resolutely stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment

The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to accurately grasp the current foreign trade and foreign investment situation, resolutely stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment with tangible work results, and better serve the overall economic and social development.

The meeting pointed out that to stabilize the fundamentals of foreign trade and foreign investment and complete the annual targets and tasks, we must make good use of policy space, identify the direction of efforts, take multiple measures to implement a "combination punch" of policy measures, and focus on helping companies stabilize orders, expand markets, and Ten key tasks including further optimizing the foreign investment environment.

The meeting required that the business system should pay close attention to policy implementation, service guarantee, publicity and training, risk prevention and other tasks, and go all out to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, so as to provide strong support for promoting the continued improvement of economic operations.

According to the latest data from the General Administration of Customs, foreign trade import and export data in August have shown a marginal improvement trend, with the decline in export value narrowing by 7 percentage points compared with July. Data show that the total import and export value in August was 3.59 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.5% and a month-on-month increase of 3.9%. Among them, exports were 2.04 trillion yuan, down 3.2% year-on-year, and up 1.2% month-on-month; imports were 1.55 trillion yuan, down 1.6% year-on-year, and up 7.6% month-on-month; the trade surplus was 488 billion yuan, narrowing 8.2% year-on-year.

Ministry of Commerce Spokesperson He Yadong stated at a regular press conference on September 14 that when looking at the foreign trade situation, we must look at both the current "form" and the long-term "potential"; we must also look at the "stability" of the scale. , also depends on the "excellence" of the structure.

In the face of risks and challenges, foreign trade companies have risen to the challenge and actively explored international markets; policies to stabilize foreign trade have been continuously intensified to improve efficiency, and blocking and difficult problems have been expedited; competitiveness of superior products has been enhanced and continued to contribute to export growth. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will continue to promote policies and implement them, make up for shortcomings, strengthen advantages, and further improve the toolbox of trade policies in response to issues of concern to the market and enterprises, including the introduction of special policies to improve the development level of processing trade, and the introduction of policies to promote trade in services. and policies for digital trade development, etc.

Officials explain in detail the reasons for the decline in actual use of foreign capital in the first eight months

On the same day, the Ministry of Commerce also announced the latest situation of attracting foreign investment. Data show that in the first eight months of this year, 33,154 new foreign-invested enterprises were established across the country, a year-on-year increase of 33%; the actual amount of foreign capital used was 847.17 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.1%.

The person in charge of the Foreign Investment Department of the Ministry of Commerce pointed out in response to a reporter's question that the actual use of foreign investment nationwide from January to August this year declined year-on-year mainly for two reasons:

First, the world economy is recovering slowly and global cross-border investment is weak. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's "World Investment Report 2023" stated that global foreign direct investment will fall by 12% in 2022 and will still face greater downward pressure this year. According to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in July, it is initially estimated that global foreign investment will fall by 25% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023.

Second, the base number for the same period last year was relatively large. In the three years from 2020 to 2022, China has overcome the overall downturn in global cross-border investment and the adverse effects of the COVID-19 epidemic. It has continuously increased its efforts in foreign investment and achieved sustained and stable growth in attracting foreign investment. In 2022, the scale of foreign investment attracted has exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan. A record high, with an average growth rate of 8.6% over the past three years. The actual amount of foreign capital used in the first eight months of last year was also the highest in the same period in history.

"We need to look at both the scale and the structure, and we need to look at the present as well as the long term." The person in charge emphasized that foreign investment is a market behavior and periodic fluctuations are normal.

From an industry perspective, the quality of investment continues to improve, with the actual amount of foreign capital used in the manufacturing industry reaching 239.95 billion yuan, an increase of 6.8%. The actual use of foreign capital in the high-tech manufacturing industry increased by 19.7%, of which the electronic and communication equipment manufacturing industry, medical equipment and instrumentation manufacturing industry increased by 39.7%, and 25.6% respectively. In the high-tech service industry, the actual use of foreign investment in R&D and design services increased by 57.1%.

At the same time, the number of newly established foreign-invested enterprises across the country from January to August also increased by 33% year-on-year, fully reflecting the confidence of foreign investors in long-term investment in China.