China’s Xi urges govt officials to push for reform, meet targets

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping urged senior provincial government officials to “pool their strength” to pursue the country’s reform goals, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

In a speech, the leader of the world’s second-largest economy said all regions and departments should “conscientiously implement a series of major initiatives identified”. He did not elaborate on the initiatives.

Xi also called on the provinicial officials to meet the country’s annual economic and social development targets within the next two months.

China pledged earlier this month to “significantly increase” debt issuance as part of a stimulus package aimed at reviving its sputtering economy. It did not state the overall size of the package.

Sources told Reuters that Beijing is considering approving next week the issuance of over 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in extra debt in the next few years to revive its economy, in a fiscal package expected to be further bolstered if Donald Trump wins the U.S. election.

($1 = 7.1363 Chinese yuan renminbi)