The 2026 National Two Sessions are about to begin. This year marks the start of the &#34;14th Five-Year Plan,&#34; which is crucial not only for the present but also for the economic and social development over the next five years. Focusing on this key year, what are the highlights of this year's National Two Sessions that are worth looking forward to in terms of economic development?
<h2>Highlight 1: How are the economic and social development goals set?</h2>
The main goals for economic and social development are the focus of attention at each year's National Two Sessions, especially targets such as GDP, CPI, and employment.
In 2025, China's GDP is expected to grow by 5% year-on-year, with the total economic volume surpassing 140 trillion yuan for the first time, successfully completing the expected target tasks, and continuing to rank among the top in major global economies.
How will this year's growth target be set? From the deployment of various local government work reports, many regions have set their GDP growth targets for this year at around 5%.
&#34;This year's national economic growth target will remain stable, with major economic provinces playing a stabilizing role, and the overall goal will focus more on the quality of growth rather than quantity,&#34; said Mingming, chief economist at CITIC Securities, to a reporter from Shanghai Securities.
Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Guangdong Kai Securities, stated in an interview with Shanghai Securities that a certain level of economic growth is beneficial for stabilizing expectations, ensuring social employment stability, and maintaining stability in the capital market, thereby promoting a smooth transition between old and new driving forces. It is expected that this year's GDP growth target may still be set at around 5%.
Regarding the price target, most research institutions expect this year's CPI target to remain anchored at a central level of 2%. The market generally believes that prices will rise moderately this year, and corporate profits are expected to improve.
In addition, the main goals and tasks for economic and social development during the &#34;14th Five-Year Plan&#34; period will be further refined, focusing on achieving significant results in high-quality development, significantly improving the level of technological self-reliance, and clarifying multiple key data indicators.
<h2>Highlight 2: How will macro policies be more proactive and effective?</h2>
The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year set the tone for this year's macro policies—more proactive and effective, emphasizing &#34;seeking progress while maintaining stability and improving quality and efficiency&#34; in policy orientation. This is expected to become one of the important topics at this year's National Two Sessions.
Zhang Lianqi, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of the China Enterprise Financial Management Association, told a reporter from Shanghai Securities that &#34;this year's macro policies need to balance 'expansion' and 'precision'.&#34; Fiscal policies should activate domestic demand through structural tools, monetary policies should reduce financing costs through market-oriented means, and investment strategies should strengthen the foundation for development through the collaboration of &#34;materials&#34; and &#34;people.&#34; New productive forces, consumption upgrades, and coordinated regional development will become the core driving forces for economic growth, promoting China's economy to advance towards high-quality development.
Since the beginning of this year, proactive fiscal policies have been implemented vigorously. Local governments have been intensively issuing government bonds to raise funds for major project construction, aiming to stabilize investment, stabilize the economy, and prevent risks. At the same time, the People's Bank of China has introduced structural interest rate cuts and eight other policies to further &#34;increase quantity, reduce prices, and improve efficiency&#34; of structural monetary policy tools, strengthening support for agriculture, small enterprises, technological innovation, green development, and elderly care
&#34;This year's fiscal expenditure emphasizes 'investment in people' structurally, indirectly promoting consumption through increased spending on people's livelihood. The monetary policy continues the overall approach of moderate easing, combining counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments, and it is expected that this year's reserve requirement ratio and interest rate cuts will be roughly the same as in 2025. The synergy of fiscal and monetary policies is expected to strengthen efforts to expand domestic demand,&#34; said Zhang Yi, chief economist of Financial Street Securities, to a reporter from Shanghai Securities.
<h2>Highlight Three: What are the levers for expanding domestic demand?</h2>
The Central Economic Work Conference has listed &#34;insisting on demand-led growth and building a strong domestic market&#34; as the primary task for this year's economic work, which is expected to become a focal point of attention at the upcoming National People's Congress. Experts interviewed indicated that policies to expand domestic demand will continue to gain momentum this year.
Increasing income is the keyword for promoting consumption this year. A relevant official from the National Development and Reform Commission recently revealed that relevant parties are studying and formulating actions to stabilize jobs and expand capacity and quality, as well as plans to increase income for urban and rural residents, in order to enhance residents' consumption capacity and optimize consumption supply.
Currently, the growth rate of service consumption is relatively fast. Mingming analyzed that service consumption will be an important focus for expanding domestic demand this year, with expectations for total volume increases and structural improvements. On the policy level, support can be provided for the renewal of offline commercial facilities and equipment, intelligent transformation, and the expansion of smart home and age-friendly products, forming medium- to long-term support for the service supply side and promoting the upgrading of service consumption structure.
Measures to &#34;promote investment stabilization&#34; are also expected to gain traction from multiple fronts.
&#34;Many regions have emphasized optimizing investment structure and increasing the proportion of government investment in people's livelihood projects when deploying work for 2026, increasing investment in areas such as preschool education, health care, elderly care, cultural sports, and leisure tourism, which will help achieve a virtuous interaction between expanding investment and consumption structure upgrades, and enhancing human capital,&#34; said Wang Yiming, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, to a reporter from Shanghai Securities.
<h2>Highlight Four: Where are the focal points for developing new quality productivity?</h2>
Developing new quality productivity and promoting the deep integration of technological innovation and industrial innovation will also be important topics of concern for representatives and committee members at this year's National People's Congress.
Zhang Jun, chief economist of China Galaxy Securities, told a reporter from Shanghai Securities that this year, the development of new driving forces represented by artificial intelligence and a modern industrial system will be placed in a more important position. As the importance of &#34;Artificial Intelligence +&#34; further increases, relevant deployments will strengthen regional collaborative innovation and industrial cluster development.
The direction for developing new quality productivity is industrial upgrading. More supportive policies may be introduced in strategic emerging industries and future industries.
Since the beginning of this year, many regions have anchored the cultivation and development of emerging industries and future industries, making a series of work deployments. Guangdong proposed to expand emerging industries such as new energy and new materials, cultivating new pillar industries; Zhejiang proposed to promote the innovative development of artificial intelligence, especially in promoting the opening of scenario resources and large-scale applications.
In Zhang Yi's view, the focus should be on key tracks such as artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and future industries, through strengthening original innovation and tackling key core technologies, to connect the entire chain of &#34;basic research—technology tackling—pilot transformation—industrial clusters—financial empowerment,&#34; promoting the deep integration of innovation chains, industrial chains, capital chains, and talent chains, continuously cultivating and strengthening leading technology enterprises, and forming new driving forces for industrial development
<h2>Focus Point Five: How to Promote Reforms in Key Areas</h2>
Accelerating the construction of a unified national market, promoting the development of the private economy, coordinating the advancement of fiscal and tax system reforms, and continuously deepening comprehensive reforms in capital market investment and financing... how to advance numerous key reform tasks will become a hot topic at this year's National Two Sessions.
Liu Tao, deputy director of the Market Economy Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, told Shanghai Securities Journal that during the &#34;14th Five-Year Plan&#34; period, in order to better unleash market potential and improve resource allocation efficiency, it is necessary to further eliminate local protectionism and market segmentation, establish and improve relevant institutional rules and standard systems, and promote the construction of a high-efficiency, standardized, fair competition, and fully open unified national market.
Wang Renfei, director of the Comprehensive Reform Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, previously stated at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that they will study and formulate regulations for the construction of a unified national market, create a list of items that hinder the construction of a unified national market, and a list of encouraged and prohibited items for investment attraction, as well as improve the statistical, fiscal, and assessment systems conducive to the construction of a unified national market, further solidifying the &#34;foundation&#34; of institutional rules.
The reform of the fiscal and tax system will continue to advance in 2026. Luo Zhiheng believes that there can be a moderate increase in local fiscal autonomy at the income level; optimizing the division of responsibilities and expenditure between the central and local governments, appropriately shifting expenditure responsibilities to the central government, and enhancing the role of the central government in the construction of a unified national market; reforming the principle of tax sharing, promoting the shift of value-added tax sharing from the production location principle to the consumption location principle, or adopting a combined sharing method of production and consumption locations.
Comprehensive reforms in capital market investment and financing will be further deepened. The main responsible person of the China Securities Regulatory Commission proposed at a recent symposium on foreign-funded institutions for the capital market &#34;14th Five-Year Plan&#34; to take the reform of the Science and Technology Innovation Board and the Growth Enterprise Market as a starting point to continuously deepen comprehensive reforms in investment and financing, and further improve the capital market system, product, and service system.
Zhang Yi believes that this year, specific measures can be focused on supporting technology innovation enterprises in listing and financing, promoting medium- and long-term funds to enter the market, improving the quality of listed companies, and perfecting the shareholder return mechanism.
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The National Two Sessions of 2026 are about to be held, and as the starting year of the "14th Five-Year Plan," the goals for economic and social development are receiving significant attention. It is expected that this year's GDP growth target will be set around 5%, while the CPI target will remain unchanged at a central level of 2%. Macroeconomic policies will be more proactive, emphasizing stability while seeking progress, promoting high-quality development, and achieving technological self-reliance and strength. Various key data indicators will be further refined to promote stable economic growth and social employment security

- The upcoming 2026 National Two Sessions will focus on key economic and social development targets, including GDP growth, which is anticipated to be around 5%.  
- Macroeconomic policies are expected to become more proactive, emphasizing balance between expansion and precision, as the government aims to stimulate domestic demand and improve market stability.  
- The development of new productivity, particularly through technology and innovation, will also be a crucial topic, with a strong emphasis on integrating artificial intelligence into the economic framework.

Shanghai Securities Journal: "The 14th Five-Year Plan" Starts with Development, Looking Ahead to Five Highlights of the National Two Sessions