Premier Li Keqiang presided over a State Council executive meeting on Nov 4 to discuss issues concerning the 13th Five-Year plan, industry growth and upgrade, marketization of interest rates and the streamlining of administrative approvals on enterprise investment and expressway construction.

The meeting decided to set up a leading group to direct the 13th Five-Year Plan which is vital to boosting the economy, upgrading industries and improving social progress and people’s lives.

In accordance with the development philosophies of innovation, coordination, environmental-friendliness, opening-up and sharing, comprehensive planning should be undertaken to lift the economy that saw medium-to-high growth to a higher level and ensure the construction of a moderately prosperous society, the meeting said.

According to the meeting, China is at a crucial stage to transform and upgrade its industry. It is necessary to stabilize industrial growth, optimize its structure and improve the efficiency of enterprises, vital steps in job creation and maintaining a good momentum for economic growth.

First, boosting innovation by setting up a special fund to support the Made in China 2025 strategy and creating industrial innovation platforms with the help of the Internet Plus strategy.

Second, expanding the market by upgrading daily consumer goods, promoting pilot projects of steel structure buildings and supporting high-end equipment exports.

Third, deepening reform and speeding up the restructuring of “zombie enterprises” to encourage market-oriented resources allocation. The meeting also pledged support for SOEs to shake off their “historic burden”.

Fourth, encouraging financial institutions to support promising enterprises, promoting financial lease services of large manufacturing equipments and production line, and establishing a national financing guarantee fund for small and micro businesses.

According to the meeting, strengthened efforts should be made in marketization of interest rates to support the real economy and tackle financing difficulties.

First, efforts should be made to improve financial institutions’ internal control systems and enhance independent pricing and risk control abilities.

Second, benchmark deposit and lending rates should continue to serve as a reference and guidance for the market.

Third, efforts should be made to strengthen regulation on irrational pricing practices, ensuring high-level interest rate marketization.

In order to further promote administration streamlining and power delegation, optimize services, increase efficient investment and supply of public products, the meeting also decided to reduce pr-approval items concerning expressways from 17 to 7.

According to the meeting, approval items concerning the same investment projects should be delegated jointly to lower level governments. Those approval items concerning overall planning or the exploitation and allocation of important resources should be kept at provincial and city level governments.

The meeting also decided to apply a list management of intermediary services and joint online approval, aiming to boost development and improve people’s livelihood with open and convenient government services.