Jin Guanping: Three dimensions must be grasped to stabilize investment through coordination from top to bottom

The recently held executive meeting of the State Council studied the work related to the effectiveness of macro policies and the promotion of effective investment, and pointed out that "it is necessary to work together to stabilize investment." In the context of the current pressure on investment growth, the four words "coordination between top and bottom" not only point out the key to the problem, but also point out the direction to solve the problem.

In the first eight months of this year, fixed asset investment nationwide fell by 7.2% year-on-year, and the decline expanded. The decline in investment reflects that our country's economy is undergoing profound structural adjustment and power transformation. On the one hand, there is an urgent need for transformation and upgrading of investment in traditional fields; on the other hand, new investment growth points are accelerating, but many investment projects involve multiple levels, fields, and entities, which puts forward higher requirements for investment accuracy and synergy. Do a good job of "upper-lower collaboration", covering at least three dimensions.

In the vertical dimension, it is necessary to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of both the central and local governments. At the central level, this year's list of "double-heavy" construction projects has been released, and 800 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special government bond funds have been allocated to support the construction of 1,417 major projects; the total scale of new policy financial instruments has increased from 500 billion yuan last year to 800 billion yuan, and is expected to leverage the total project investment scale of about 10 trillion yuan. At present, the key is to make full use of existing policy tools, increase the dispatch and supervision of "double" construction and investment projects within the central budget, speed up the issuance and use of local government special bonds, and promptly invest new policy financial instruments. At the same time, strictly implement fund supervision to ensure timely payment of funds. At the local level, it is necessary to base on local industrial endowments, people's livelihood needs and actual project reserves, and transform top-level deployments into specific implementation paths that can be implemented. They should not engage in "up and down" copying and selective implementation, avoid "temperature differences" and "idling" in the policy transmission process, promote early implementation, early start of construction, and early results of projects, so as to generate more physical workload as soon as possible.

In the horizontal dimension, we need to gather cross-department and cross-regional investment synergies. Many major investment projects, such as cross-regional new infrastructure layout, comprehensive ecological environment management, and major scientific and technological infrastructure construction, often involve multiple levels, multiple regions, and multiple departments. It is easy for problems of overlapping rights and responsibilities and buck-passing to occur. If any department is stuck or any level is lost, the project may stagnate. This requires the establishment of a cross-department, cross-region, and cross-level coordination mechanism to improve the efficiency of investment approval, accurately and efficiently strengthen support for factors such as land use and environmental assessment, and strengthen the protection of new factors such as scenarios, data, technology, and talents in a targeted manner, and promote "projects and other factors" to "factors follow the project." Since August, the National Development and Reform Commission has teamed up with multiple departments to hold intensive coordination and promotion meetings for the "Six Networks" major projects, which is a pragmatic move to implement cross-department collaboration to stabilize investment.

In the dimension of the relationship between the government and the market, it is necessary to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of private investment while effectively giving play to the guiding role of the government. This is the proper meaning of coordinated efforts from top to bottom to stabilize investment, and it is also the key to activating the endogenous power of investment. The slowdown in private investment is greater than that of overall investment, highlighting the urgency of stimulating the vitality of private investment. The recently held National Investment Work Promotion Conference specifically planned to launch a number of major projects to attract the participation of private enterprises, and support private enterprises in participating in the issuance of infrastructure REITs (real estate investment trust funds) and the construction and operation of new mechanism projects for government and social capital cooperation. Only by ensuring good implementation can we effectively stimulate the vitality of private investment.

At present, our country's economy is at a critical stage of transformation and upgrading. Investment is facing new development opportunities, but there are also many practical problems that need to be solved. Only by opening up the blocking points of upper-lower linkage and forming a joint force from top-level design to grass-roots implementation, from departmental coordination to government-enterprise interaction can the effectiveness of investment stabilization policies be fully released and the key role of investment in economic development be better exerted. (Author: Jin Guanping)