增长压舱石(zēngzhǎng yācāngshí): Ballast for growth

Entering the last quarter of 2015, China is facing great pressure from the global economic downturn and striving to achieve its growth target of 7 percent for this year.

Investment is the ballast for economic growth, thus the key to stabilizing economic growth is stabilizing investment. In the first eight months of this year, the growth rate of fix-asset investment grew by 10.9 percent, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points over the first half of the year, and the central government has taken a series of measures to promote investment.

From Sept 7 to Sept 15, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, approved 19 projects, including infrastructure projects such as highways and urban rail transits. On Sept 14, the commission introduced 10 new measures including establishing a special construction fund to expand investment through precise control. It is expected that these policies will be conducive to expanding the investment needed for the expected growth rate and thus be the ballast for next stage of development.