China will continue to implement an active fiscal policy and maintain a steady monetary policy, as before, in order to strengthen the domestic economy, officials said in Beijing Saturday afternoon.

Wang Chunzheng, vice minister of the State Development Planning Commission, reiterated the fiscal and monetary policies in a press conference at the First Session of the 10th National People's Congress.

He said that China first adopted an active fiscal policy and steadied its monetary policy in 1998, when the Asian crisis occurred. The aim of this action was to stimulate domestic market demand and keep the growth of the Chinese economy in line.

"China issued a total of 660 billion yuan worth of treasury bonds or t-bonds in the past five years, which has been used to continue to enable infrastructure construction, improve the ecosystem and raise the standard of living," he explained.

He admitted that this active fiscal policy has brought with it budget deficits but he said that exiting an active fiscal policy was a long process.

"China issued 140 billion yuan worth of treasury bonds this year, 10 billion yuan less than last year. However, 10 billion yuan left over from last year will be used for construction matters this year. Thus, the amount of t-bonds this year equals that of last year," he said.

When asked about the projects in which these t-bonds were invested, he stressed that the government was taking very good care of the management of these funds. "These projects are selected carefully, and the authorities and local government will enhance their supervision on the use of t-bonds."

(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Tang Fuchun, March 10, 2003)