(Bloomberg) -- China’s top economic planner will hold a press briefing on Tuesday to discuss a package of policies aimed at boosting economic growth, as investors look for more stimulus measures from President Xi Jinping’s government.
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The briefing, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., will include five senior officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, including Chairman Zheng Shanjie, according to a notice from the government on Sunday.
Economists and traders are closely watching for additional policy measures after China’s top leaders signaled a desire to draw a line under the nation’s growth slowdown. Just before a weeklong holiday in China, the government unleashed a slew of stimulus measures, including interest rate cuts, more liquidity to promote bank lending and a pledge of as much as $340 billion to support the stock market.
Chinese shares have soared since late-September as the policy support reinvigorated investor confidence, with the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gaining more than 30% in the past month. But concerns are growing over whether the rally can be sustained given China has seen several false dawns before, including a rally in February that completely unwound.
While the NDRC notice didn’t provide details on the briefing, expectations are rising among analysts for Beijing to expand public spending as part of its stimulus package. A prominent Chinese economist recently said that the country has room to ramp up fiscal support by issuing as much as 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) in special debt.
The NDRC may unveil the first batch of an expected 2 trillion yuan ($285 billion) fiscal package at the briefing, Morgan Stanley analysts including Laura Wang said in a note. The measure could include support for local government financing, infrastructure investment and a modest consumption boost, they said.
Citigroup Inc. expects the fiscal package to be about 3 trillion yuan. Head of Emerging Markets Economics Johanna Chua said it’s not clear if all of that will be announced at the NDRC briefing, but the amount will be used to support local government spending, welfare and consumption, and bank recapitalization.
“The challenges in China are very large, so any little bit thing helps,” she said in a Bloomberg TV interview on Monday. “You just need a little bit more of a pivot in terms of expectation about what the government can do to help support you, and that might at least help change sentiment.”
(Updates with economist comments from sixth paragraph)
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