BEIJING, Dec. 11 -- China will strive to keep economic growth and policies steady in 2015 and adapt to the "new normal" of slower speed but higher quality, said a statement released after a crucial economic policy meeting concluded on Thursday.

The Central Economic Work Conference saw Chinese leaders and senior officials sketching out the government's guiding economic policies and priorities for the country for the next year.

Continuity and stability are key to macroeconomic policies. "The proactive fiscal policy should be stronger and the prudent monetary policy should be more focused on striking a proper balance between being tight and loose," according to the statement.

To reach the 2015 goals, the leaders also vowed to accelerate reforms, further open up economy, encourage innovation, upgrade agriculture, enhance regional integration, and improve low-income people's life.

The meeting is especially crucial after something of a rocky year. In the third quarter, growth slid to a low not seen since the 2008/2009 global financial crisis, dragged down by a housing slowdown, softening domestic demand and unsteady exports.

GROWTH TARGET DELIVERABLE

At the meeting, the leaders including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang stressed that the economy still faces many challenges and "relatively big" downward pressures such as increasing difficulties for businesses and the emergence of economic risks.

Although the risks are generally within control, it will take a while for China to gradually dissolve them, the statement said.

However, the leaders reassured the market that China can deliver its social and economic goals for 2014 "relatively well", with the economy staying within a reasonable range.

The government set an annual economic growth target of about 7.5 percent for 2014 in March during the parliamentary sessions.

The statement fell short of setting a target for 2015, which is usually made public in March, but said the authorities will be "reasonable" in setting such goals.

Zhang Zhanbin, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told Xinhua that moderate adjustment of economic growth targets can leave more room for reforms.

"For a target which is relatively high, even if it can be achieved through hard work, but it is not good for other work as it stretched too much," Zhang said.

NEW NORMAL -- THE KEY WORD

"New normal" is a key word in the statement and also a buzzword in China's key economic policy documents this year.

China must "understand the new normal, adjust to the new normal and develop under the new normal," said the statement.

Coming to terms with the "new normal" will be the "main logic" for economic growth for some time, it added.

"New normal" is nothing new. It was first popularized by the California-based bond fund giant Pacific Investment Management Co. to describe below-average growth after the global crisis.

The term gained ground in China when in May, President Xi Jinping, during his inspection tour in central China's Henan Province, described the need to adapt to a "new normal" and remain cool-headed as the brakes are applied.

There used to be an "old normal" in the 35 years between 1978 and 2013, when annual growth of the Chinese economy averaged close to 10 percent and, between 2003 and 2007, it was over 11.5 percent.

The "new normal" is characterized by a shift from high speed growth to a medium-to-high one, a shift from focusing on quantity and speed to quality and efficiency in growth model, a shift from stressing production expansion to improving current production, and a shift from growth being driven be conventional engines to increasingly driven by new ones.

The new normal concept does not necessarily change the fact that China is still in a strategically important period with great prospects, nor does it change the positive fundamentals of the Chinese economy. The new normal asks for the change of development mode and economic structure, said the statement.

SPEEDING UP REFORMS, OPENING-UP

Reforms will be even higher on the economic agenda for 2015, as the Chinese government will accelerate reforms in nine areas next year including the capital market and market access for private banks.

Reform will be sped up in administrative approval, investment, pricing, monopolies, franchising, government purchased services, and outbound investment. This takes into consideration both the needs for the next year and long-term interests, according to the statement.

More efforts will be made to transform the reform into growth, said the statement. The evaluation system for reform and the mechanism for general public to assess the reform work will also be improved.

The problems of state-owned enterprises will be addressed and efforts will be made to improve their efficiency and core competitiveness.

Private and foreign companies can also expect more opening up in the Chinese economy.

In the meeting, the leaders decided to expand market access in the service sector, further open up the manufacturing sector, and popularize experiences of the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

(For the latest China news, please follow @PDChina on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/PDChina and @PeoplesDaily on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/PeoplesDaily)