The fiscal revenue and expenditure disclosed recently in the first half of the year showed that the national general public budget expenditure reached 14.13 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%. Among them, social security, employment, education, and health expenditure increased by 9.2%, 5.9% and 4.3% year-on-year respectively. It can be seen that fiscal policy continues to be more powerful and promotes China's economy to continue to recover and improve.

This year's government work report proposes to implement more proactive fiscal policies. In the first half of the year, the supporting role of fiscal policy in the fields of benefiting people's livelihood and promoting consumption was further highlighted. In terms of ensuring people's livelihood, fiscal policy continues to focus on key areas such as elderly care, public health, and education, so that residents' income is more stable and their guarantees are more solid. If the national student loan interest-free and principal repayment policies are continued in 2025, it is estimated that the interest reduction will be approximately 2.48 billion yuan, benefiting about 6 million college graduates.

In terms of promoting consumption, this year the central government has set out "real money" and sent consumers a "big gift package". In the first half of the year, 162 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds were allocated in two batches to exchange for old-for-new consumer goods and further expand the scope of subsidies. Since the beginning of this year, the policy has continued to be effective. In the first half of the year, the retail sales of home appliances and audio-visual equipment, cultural office supplies, communication equipment and furniture products of units above the quota increased by 30.7%, 25.4%, 24.1%, and 22.9% year-on-year, respectively, driving the total retail sales of consumer goods to increase by 5% year-on-year, 1.5 percentage points higher than the whole year of last year.

In the fourth quarter of last year, my country increased the local government debt limit by 6 trillion yuan at one time, 2 trillion yuan per year in three years, to replace existing hidden debts and support local governments to resolve debt risks. Since the beginning of this year, the effect of the implementation of the replacement policy has gradually emerged. The scale of hidden debts that local governments need to resolve on their own has been greatly reduced, freeing up more resources to protect people's livelihood and promote development, and injecting new impetus into regional development.

Continue to implement more proactive fiscal policies. First, we must continue to do a good job in promoting consumption. We must give full play to the guiding and driving role of fiscal policies, further support local governments in promoting new consumption forms, models and scenarios, and continue to improve consumption convenience and experience while further accelerating the development of new consumption such as digital, green, and intelligent. Second, we must keep a close eye on the people’s urgent needs and concerns, and continue to consolidate and increase financial support in key areas such as education and medical care. Third, focus on improving scientific and technological innovation capabilities and cultivating and developing new quality productivity, further strengthening fiscal and tax policy support and financial guarantees, and helping industrial transformation and upgrading. Fourth, we must further strengthen the coordination with currency, industry, trade and other policies, and launch a "combination punch" of policies to provide strong support for promoting the steady and long-term development of my country's economy.

Since this year, facing the complex and changing external environment, the national economy has been moving forward with a pressure of 5.3% year-on-year growth in the first half of the year, and a high-value "report card" has been handed over. "China's economy is a sea, not a small pond." I believe that as the macro policy toolbox continues to make efforts to show results in the second half of the year, the resilience and vitality of China's economy will continue to emerge, further supporting the economic recovery and improvement. (China Radio and Television Commentator Mi Di)