财政部部长：推进积极财政政策缓解经济下行压力

（原标题：Proactive fiscal policy to ease economic downward pressure）

中国财政部部长刘昆周四在接受《中国日报》采访时表示，中国将推进积极的财政政策，特别是以进一步减税的形式，并加强政府支出，来缓解中美贸易紧张局势中经济下行的压力。

不过，他重申，积极的政策立场并不意味着大规模的经济刺激。

“我们正在研究进一步减税和降低费用的措施，以减轻企业部门的负担，”刘昆说。为了增加居民收入和提振消费，个人所得税专项减免计划也在研究中。

据刘昆介绍，今年的减税总额预计将超过1.3万亿元，高于今年初设定的1.1万亿元减税目标。

刘昆表示，尽管财政收入在今年下半年可能会放缓，但仍将投入更多政府支出，以支持重点建设项目和改善民生。

中共中央和国务院本周二发布的一份监管文件显示，为了更好地利用政府的资金，提高在一些关键领域的支出效率，国家计划在三至五年内建立一个全面的预算绩效管理系统，来监测各级政府的收入和支出情况。

该管理系统适用于一般公共财政、政府管理基金、国有资本经营和社会保险基金的预算。所有重大政策、投融资项目都将在其运行过程中得到评估。

刘昆说：“财政部将与其他政府部门协调实施这项规定。”

根据财政部的数据，截至9月26日，新发行的一般地方政府债券已完成今年年度配额的91.8%，用于特殊用途的地方政府债券发行额已经占到年度配额的85%。

今年以来，中央政府在基础设施建设上投入4094亿元，占年度预算的94.2%。这些项目重点是创新的基础设施与生态环境保护。

谈到中美之间日益紧张的贸易关系时，刘昆称，“我们已经按照世贸组织的规则，对美国采取了有针对性的反击措施，以保护自由贸易和多变贸易机制。”

对于在贸易紧张局势中受到影响的公司，中国财政部发布了支持措施，包括协调和解决与其出口有关的问题的措施，支持员工再培训和内部人员调动，以缓解失业压力。

今年，美国已经对价值2500亿美元的中国商品加征关税，并威胁要大幅升级贸易摩擦，对另外2670亿美元的中国产品征收关税。

刘昆表示，“美国的所作所为损害了中国公司和在中国的外国公司的利益，也扭曲了世界经济的，动摇了全球对经济前景的信心。

他补充称，“然而，中国的宏观经济指标目前保持稳定，GDP增长率连续12个季度在6.7%-6.9%之间。我相信，无论是中国公司，还是外国公司，在中国都能生存下来，并取得更好的发展。”

以下为原文：

Proactive fiscal policy to ease economic downward pressure

China will push forward proactive fiscal policy, especially in the form of further tax cuts, and strengthen government expenditure to ease economic downward pressure amid Sino-American trade tensions, Finance Minister Liu Kun told China Daily in an interview on Thursday.

The proactive policy stance, however, does not mean massive economic stimulus, he reiterated.

"We are studying measures to further cut taxes and reduce fees, aiming to ease the burden in the corporate sector," Liu said. "The special deduction plan for personal income tax is also being researched, to increase residents' income and boost consumption."

The total tax cut this year is expected to exceed 1.3 trillion yuan, higher than the 1.1 trillion yuan tax cut target set at the beginning of this year, according to the minister.

Stronger government expenditure, in the meantime, will support key construction projects and improve people's livelihoods, although the fiscal income is likely to slowdown in the second half of this year, Liu said.

To better use the government's money, or make its expenditure more efficient on some key areas, the country aims to build a comprehensive budget performance management system in three to five years to monitor revenues and expenditures of governments at all levels, according to a regulation document released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Tuesday.

The regulation will apply to budgets for general public finance, government managed funds, state capital operations and social insurance funds. All the major policies, investment and financing projects will be evaluated during the process.

“The Finance Ministry will coordinate with other government departments to implements the regulation,” Liu said.

According to data from the Finance Ministry, as of Sept 26, newly-issued general local government bonds have fulfilled 91.8 percent of the annual quota, and 85 percent for the special-purpose local government bonds.

So far this year, the central government has spent 409.4 billion yuan on infrastructure construction, accounting for 94.2 percent of the annual budget. The projects focus on infrastructure of innovation and ecological environmental protection.

Talking about the rising trade tensions between China and the United States, the minister said, "We have taken targeted counter measures, in compliance with WTO rules, to protect free trade and the multilateral mechanism."

For companies that have been influenced amid the trade tensions, the Financial Ministry has issued supportive measures, including those to coordinate and solve problems related to their exports, and support staff retraining and internal personnel transfer to ease unemployment pressure.

This year, the US has already imposed additional tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods and threatened to sharply escalate the trade friction, with levies on a further $267 billion of Chinese products.

"What the US has done has harmed the interest of Chinese companies and foreign companies in China. It has also led to distortions in the world economy, as well as shaken the globe confidence on economic development outlook," Liu said.

"China's macroeconomic indicators, however, remain stable at the moment, with GDP growth rate in the range of 6.7-6.9 percent for 12 quarters running. I believe Chinese companies and foreign companies in China are able to survive this, achieve better development," he added.