In the face of these difficulties and pressures, all our people have truly exerted themselves and progressed step by step to get us where we are today. This once again demonstrates that no difficulty or hardship will ever stop China from moving forward.

I will now move on to discussthe main work we did last year:

First, we maintained stable growth, made structural adjustments, guarded against risks, and developed new ways of conducting macro regulation.

In responding to the mounting downward pressure on the economy, we exercised targeted and well-timed regulation on the basis of range-based regulation. We adopted proactive fiscal policy that focused on increasing intensity and efficacy by expanding the scope of structural tax reductions, reducing fees across the board, and putting dormant budgetary funds to good use. Local government bonds issued to replace outstanding debt reached 3.2 trillion yuan, lessening the interest payment burden of local governments by approximately 200 billion yuan while also reducing their debt repayment pressure. We pursued prudent monetary policy with an appropriate amount of intensity, making several cuts to interest rates and required reserve ratios, reforming management of the loan-to-deposit ratio, creating new monetary policy tools, and increasing support for the real economy. Effective investment increased, special-purpose funds were established, and development was strengthened in areas in need of attention, including water conservancy, rundown urban areas anddilapidated rural housing, and railways and highways in the central and western regions. Consumer spending was promoted in key areas, spurring rapid growth in spending on recreational travel, online shopping, and information goods and services. In 2015, we also responded proactively to a variety of risks and challenges in the financial sector,such as unusual fluctuations in the stock market and the foreign exchangemarket, ensuring that no systemic or regional threats arose, thus safeguarding China’s economic and financial security.

Second, we intensified reform and opening up to invigorate the market.

Rather than adopting strong stimulus policies that would have an economy-wide impact, we continued to move forward with structural reform. We intensified reform to streamline administration, delegate more powers, improve regulation, and provide better services.We delegated the power or cancelled the requirement for government review for 311 items,cancelled the requirement for verification or approval for 123 professional qualifications, and put a complete stop to the practice of non-administrative review. The number of items which require government approval for new businesses prior to registration was cut by 85%, and the system of a separate business license, organization code certificate, and taxation registration certificate was replaced by a unified business license with a unified social credit code.Both operational and post-operational oversight over businesseswere strengthened,and public service procedures were improved. Government-related procedures for individuals and businesses were made much simpler, such that enthusiasm for stepping out into business and making innovations is rising by the day.