The Information Office of the State Council held a press conference at 10 a.m. on January 21, 2019. Ning Jichao, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, introduced the operation of the national economy in 2018 and answered questions from reporters.

Ningji Zhe said that in 2018, under the complicated international and domestic environment, the economic operation has achieved overall stability, stability and progress, and the main expected goals of economic and social development have been well achieved.

Among them, the “three go, one fall and one supplement” continued to work, exceeding the target of reducing steel production capacity by more than 30 million tons and withdrawing coal production capacity by more than 150 million tons in advance.

The following is a partial record:

Structural reform on the supply side has been deepened, and “three go, one fall and one supplement” has continued to bear fruit. One is to complete the capacity task ahead of schedule. We will persist in market-oriented and legalized means to reduce production capacity, fulfill ahead of schedule the target task of reducing steel production capacity by more than 30 million tons and withdrawing coal production capacity by more than 150 million tons. Second, deleveraging has been steadily promoted, and macro-leverage ratio is stable. Micro-leverage ratio is measured by asset-liability ratio of Industrial Enterprises above the scale. At the end of November 2018, it dropped by 0.4 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Third, the effect of inventory removal is obvious. At the end of the year, the area for sale of commercial housing decreased by 65.1 million square meters compared with that at the end of last year, and the inventory of commercial housing decreased by 170 million square meters in the past two years. Fourth, cost reduction will continue to be effective. Costs in the main business income of Industrial Enterprises above the scale of 100 yuan continue to decline. The total scale of burden reduction of enterprises and individuals nationwide exceeds the expected 1.1 trillion yuan at the beginning of this year, and now reaches more than 1.3 trillion yuan. Fifthly, we should make more efforts to mend the shortcomings. Investment in eco-environmental protection, agriculture and social fields has accelerated. Sixth, the overall efficiency of enterprises has increased. From January to November, the total profits of Industrial Enterprises above the scale increased by 11.8% year on year.