Wednesday, July 10, 2013

More Evidence of China's Changing Economic Policies

From Bloomberg:

China’s President Xi Jinping said officials shouldn’t be judged solely on their record in boosting gross domestic product, the latest signal that policy makers are prepared to tolerate slower economic expansion. 

The Communist Party should instead place more importance on achievements in improving people’s livelihood, social development and environmental quality when evaluating the performance of officials, the Xinhua News Agency reported June 29, citing Xi at a meeting on personnel management on the eve of the 92nd anniversary of the party’s founding. 

This is very important development and public statement, as it indicates that non-GDP measures will now be officially considered when assessing performance.  Note especially the environmental quality statement.  China is an environmental hazard zone.  They could probably subsidize and industry meant to clean up the pollution and get another 2%-3% growth for their GDP total.