FLYING HIGHER

The author is a finance professional at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in Beijing and a member of the China Task Force at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development

Different from the common practice in Western economies where governments adopt a short-term vision and prediction of future events, China relies on a tradition that started in 1953, when the country began to adopt medium-term plans covering half a decade and touching upon almost every major aspect of the nation’s economic and social spheres.

This year marks the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) that, presented in 2015, introduced very detailed economic development guidelines and important reforms that have been instrumental in shaping