& lt& lt Rural Work Newsletter >> 03, 2006
Xiao Yungang
Characteristic agriculture is the focus of agricultural development in western China. By developing characteristic agriculture, strengthening infrastructure construction, improving production conditions and improving production capacity, we can further strengthen the basic position of agriculture, accelerate the pace of agricultural and rural economic development in the west, and create conditions for developing the western economy and narrowing the gap between the east and the west. The western region should base itself on the advantages of local agricultural resources and choose characteristic agricultural products and industries with certain regional scale, good industrial foundation and broad market prospects. Rely on science and technology, cultivate famous brands, take the development road of intensive production, regional distribution and industrialized management, continuously improve the production level and product grade of characteristic agriculture, adhere to the organic unity of economic and ecological benefits, and realize a high starting point and leap-forward development.
On financial support in the development of western China
Release date: August 6, 2003 by Rank Name
Speeding up the development of the western region is of far-reaching significance to China's economic development, which has aroused widespread concern and interest from governments at all levels, experts and scholars, and investors at home and abroad. This paper mainly discusses how finance supports the western development.
First, the strategic principles of western development
1, combining key development with overall planning. At present, experts and scholars have different opinions on the strategic layout of the western development, but generally advocate focusing on comprehensive river management, environmental protection, infrastructure and resource development. It should be said that these ideas have some truth, and they must also be considered in the development of the western region. However, scholars who hold these views only analyze problems from their own perspective and lack overall planning. The author believes that there should be systematic planning for the development of the western region.
First of all, the schedule should be carried out in stages. Since the early 1980s, with the support of two important theories, the theory of special zones and the theory of cascade, we have developed the eastern region in nearly 20 years. Due to good natural conditions and infrastructure, with the gradual establishment of the domestic market economy system and the recovery and long-term prosperity of the global economy, the economy of the eastern region has matured in only 20 years. Comparatively speaking, the western region is backward in infrastructure and harsh in natural conditions, so the development time may not be shorter than that of the eastern region, that is to say, it will not be shorter than 20 years. For the 20-year arrangement, we consider that it will take at least five years to build infrastructure, mainly transportation, communication, ecology and environmental protection; Then it will take about five years to develop resources, mainly resources themselves, and do a good job in ecological and environmental protection; Then it will take five to ten years to develop the processing industry in the western region, and we must rely on the resources in the western region to improve the industrial relevance. Of course, although the contents of these three stages of development have their own emphasis, they cannot be completely separated.
Secondly, the western development must take the road of overall planning and comprehensive development. After the central government put forward the strategic concept of developing the western region, the western provinces and regions showed great enthusiasm and listed many development projects. However, calm observation shows that there is a lack of overall concept and comprehensive development plan behind enthusiasm. And this is exactly what the current western development needs most. The reasons for this consideration are: first, consider the sustainability of regional development. In people's consciousness, the western region contains inexhaustible energy and raw materials, and developing the western region means developing these energy and raw materials and exporting them to the central and eastern regions continuously. If we develop the western region according to this understanding and thinking, once the resources in the western region are exhausted in the future, the economic development of this region will face incalculable difficulties. The rise and fall of Baku oil city in the former Soviet Union is a lesson for us. The second is to consider the strategic cycle factor. From the perspective of the strategic cycle, the eastern region should and will take the lead in integrating into the international cycle in the future, that is, it will take the road of two ends out (this sign has already appeared) and at least partially rely on the outside, while the vast western region will be more likely to take the road of one end out. In this way, the western region can not only be developed as an energy and raw material base in the central and eastern regions, but must make a comprehensive development plan before long-term development and take the road of comprehensive development and sustainable development.
2. The combination of regional development and overall driving. Many people think that the idea of developing the west is just another regional development strategy after developing the east, and the biggest beneficiaries are the western provinces and regions. Therefore, they are not enthusiastic about the development of the western region. In fact, this understanding is not comprehensive. Looking at the economic development in the past 20 years, China's economic growth has mainly experienced two cycles. The recovery period of the first cycle begins at 1982, and the recovery period of the second cycle begins at 199 1 year, and each cycle lasts about 10 year. If we simply analyze this cycle from the time cycle process, we can see that the cyclical fluctuation of China's economy is about ten years. According to the analysis of this time period, after several years of recession in the late 1990s, China's macro-economy should have a new recovery and start a new cycle from 200/kloc-0 to 2003. Furthermore, the first two recoveries were directly related to the two large-scale developments in the national macroeconomic strategy at that time. As we all know, in the early 1980s, China implemented the development plan of the special zone with Shenzhen as the leader, which was the basis of economic growth throughout the 1980s. In the early 1990s, the state implemented the development plans of Hainan (later stranded) and Pudong, Shanghai, and this development (especially the development of Shanghai) became the basic point of the national economic prosperity in the 1990s. Therefore, in addition to conventional growth, the implementation of regional development by the state is an important initial driving force for macroeconomic growth.
But in the final analysis, the first two developments are only a "point" development, and the formation is only a growth point. In contrast, the western development involves Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, Xinjiang and other provinces (regions), forming an arc or arcuate line facing the central and eastern regions, which is easy to radiate into a plane, thus becoming a plane development. At the same time, the western development is far from the eastern development in terms of difficulty, radiation, investment and depth, and the country has not taken this move for nearly 20 years, which is why. Therefore, its driving effect on the whole national economy will be greater in time and intensity than the previous two times. In this sense, the development of the western region is not only a matter for the western region, but also a matter for the whole country. In other words, according to the "short side theory", although the proportion of short sides is small, it will affect the overall level. The western region is vast, although the population is relatively small, but the proportion of poor people is very high. If we don't develop the western region now and make the western region develop rapidly and catch up with the eastern region in about 20 years, it will not only be impossible to achieve the national macro-strategic goal of 2 1 century, but also lead to instability in the whole western region, destroy the stable political environment and interfere with the national economic development because of excessive regional differences. In this sense, the development of the western region is not only a matter for the western region itself, but also a matter for the whole country.
3. Combination of government intervention and market allocation. Throughout the development history of relatively backward areas at home and abroad, its forms and measures are different. The United States adopted a laissez-faire policy when developing the west. For every acre of land reclaimed by investors in the west, the government only charges a nominal fee of $65,438 +0.25, and then recognizes the ownership of the land by the cultivators. Under this development mode, the development lacks planning and integrity, and investors only plunder the land from their own interests, which leads to the waste and destruction of social resources.
During the "First Five-Year Plan" period after the founding of New China, China also developed the western region mainly from the military strategic interests. However, this development is carried out under the central planned economy model. In the process of development, on the one hand, the central government increases direct investment, on the other hand, the central government calls on all localities to provide people and property free of charge. The central government's increased investment in this area should be said to meet the requirements of investment planning; However, the so-called investments in western regions are made by administrative orders, even against the wishes of investors. Therefore, although the investment in this period has played an important role in the development of the western region for nearly half a century, it cannot be said to be a successful operation mode. Under the market economy system, this investment operation mode is bound to fail. On the other hand, in this development, the central government adopted a "pincer" investment model, which led to the lack of industrial ties with the local economy and the formation of an "enclave" economy, resulting in a "dual economic structure" that was difficult to unify in the vast western region for a long time.
In the early 1990s after the reform and opening up, China also developed Hainan Province. Although we had experience in developing Shenzhen at that time, we still adopted a nearly liberalized development model, which did not reflect the characteristics of Hainan. On the contrary, to some extent, there was chaos similar to that in the development of the western United States.
Today, with the resurgence of the western development, we have initially established a market economic system and accumulated some experience in managing the market. Therefore, we can no longer adopt the previous model, but should reflect the role of market mechanism in allocating social resources under the new system. The current market economy is a mechanism of market allocation of resources under government intervention. It is neither a market economy with complete free competition nor a planned economy under the command of the central government. The so-called embodiment of the characteristics of market economy in the large-scale development of the western region means that the market should be used to allocate social resources, and the government's planning and intervention in development cannot be abandoned. Specifically, first of all, as mentioned above, the government, especially the central government, must make overall plans for the whole development, and cannot let itself drift, let alone talk about developing the western region without sustainable development; Secondly, except for government financial investment, other investments should basically be paid, and the rights and interests of investors should be respected and protected; Thirdly, the central government's investment in the western region should be combined with the industrial characteristics of the western region, strengthen the industrial connection between new investment and the original foundation, give industrial planning guidance to private investment, and even resolutely reject some investments that do not meet the requirements of industrial development when necessary.
Second, develop the financial support that the western region should have.
The role of modern financial industry in the national economy can be roughly divided into two aspects: one is to regulate the operation of the national economy, and the other is to engage in commercial financial activities and support the micro-economy. In the process of western development, the financial industry must give full play to its unique functions and support the western development under the premise of following the strategic principles of western development.
1, planning expansion strategy. In China's economic life, three things have been discussed recently, namely, the reform of state-owned enterprises, China's accession to the WTO and the development of the western region. Because these three questions were put forward first and then, experts and scholars also expressed their views on them, but these views and viewpoints basically studied these three questions separately. In fact, these three problems will affect our economic life at the same time in the next few years. Therefore, our research must comprehensively consider these three factors.
As mentioned above, the western development must adhere to the principle of combining market development with government intervention. Then, in addition to the government as one of the investment subjects, enterprises and other investment subjects should also be the main body of the western development. Obviously, from the perspective of enterprises, it has been proved that it is unrealistic to rely solely on enterprises in the western region to develop the western region; Large enterprises in the eastern region invest in the western region, although their financial strength is stronger than that of enterprises in the western region, they may still be sporadic. In the western development, many enterprise groups and large enterprises need to cooperate with various small and medium-sized enterprises, which requires large enterprise groups. However, under the existing enterprise system, it is difficult for enterprises to snowball only by internal accumulation and realize low-cost capital expansion. Therefore, no matter before or during the western development, many enterprises are faced with the task of expanding their own scale and completing the transformation of the traditional enterprise system. In this case, the investment bank, an important corporate merger planner, has become an indispensable financial institution. Therefore, investment banks should provide various optional capital expansion plans for enterprises and build bridges between mergers and acquisitions, regardless of whether these enterprises are in the same region or across regions.
2. Participate in financing design. Investment banks can not only provide pre-plans for enterprise mergers and acquisitions, but also design corresponding financing schemes according to the financing needs of different enterprises under different conditions. For enterprises with good relationship with commercial banks and low asset-liability ratio, financing methods of borrowing from commercial banks can be designed; For enterprises with high asset-liability ratio that are not suitable for lending to commercial banks, direct financing can be designed, and enterprises that only want to solve short-term financial difficulties can design and use bond financing; For enterprises that want to raise funds and reform the mechanism, they can design and use stock financing; For a specific investment project, we can not only design project financing and take a diversified financing path, but also design project investment fund and take a simpler financing path. At present, enterprises in the western region pay more attention to indirect financing than direct financing, and pay more attention to stock financing than bond financing. Some enterprises don't even analyze the different effects of different financing forms on enterprises, and try their best to engage in so-called financing as long as they can get funds. Therefore, they not only bring a heavy burden to enterprises, but also increase the degree of financial risks. Investment banks should actively publicize the characteristics of different financing methods to enterprises according to the reality of western enterprises, so that enterprises can determine the financing forms according to their own reality, thus reducing the financing costs of enterprises and improving the efficiency of capital use.
3. Provide financing facilities. Microfinance department is a specific financing institution, which can provide real financing convenience for the western development. The first is to expand the proportion of direct financing of enterprises. The State Securities Regulatory Commission should give preferential treatment to the western region in the aspects of stock listing, bond issuance and approval of investment funds, especially industrial investment funds, so that enterprises in the western region can reduce their debt burden, increase their accumulation, save energy and change their mechanisms. The second is to participate in project financing. According to the operating principle of market economy, the development of the western region cannot be at the expense of commercial banks, but this does not mean that commercial banks will not participate in this development. Commercial banks can finance development projects to realize commercial interests. The third is to organize syndicated loans. In the new century, among the outstanding changes in the financial industry, interest rate marketization and risk intensification will be two important changes. In these two changes, if commercial banks fight interest rate wars, then there will be no winners; At the same time, any commercial bank's practice of betting its loan chips on individual projects can only further aggravate the risks. Therefore, syndicated loans have become an ideal choice.
4. Invest in policy capital. Without a certain financial policy investment, the financial industry's support for the development of the western region is not comprehensive. First of all, the western region is subject to a lower deposit reserve ratio. Many people generally advocate the implementation of the deposit reserve ratio system in different parts of China, on the grounds that the United States has successfully implemented this policy. In fact, this only illustrates one side of the problem. If this policy is simply transplanted to China, it may not have the same effect as the United States. 1999 before the implementation of the financial services modernization act, American commercial banks implemented the unit system, stipulating that commercial banks could not operate across States. Under this system, the benefits obtained by commercial banks through different deposit reserve ratios will inevitably stay in the local area. China's commercial banks mainly implement the general branch system. If the differential deposit reserve system is simply implemented, the surplus funds obtained by the branches of commercial banks in underdeveloped areas from the central bank will be transferred to economically developed areas by their head offices as a whole. In this way, the role of special policies will inevitably not be reflected. However, as long as the central bank determines the proportion of local loans invested by the western branches of commercial banks according to the total amount of credit funds, the western region can indeed get this kind of favorable policy. The second is to implement preferential interest rates for loans for large-scale investment projects in the west. After the marketization of interest rates, the central bank's adjustment function to commercial banks' interest rates is mainly reflected by the refinancing rate and rediscount rate. Using interest rate policy to support the development of the western region, it is necessary to reduce the refinancing rate and rediscount rate of the central bank to commercial banks in the western region under the existing conditions and increase the possibility of commercial banks.
Rice style? Or reduce the cost of capital through financial subsidies to interest rates. The third is credit policy support. The state should plan a special loan for the development of the western region to support the development of large projects in the western region. At that time, when developing the special zone, the state specially planned a piece of funds to support the special zone. It is time to transplant this policy to support the western region.
5. Deepen service support. In addition to investment and financing support, the financial sector should also provide a series of other service support for the development of the western region. The first is fast and convenient settlement. With the acceleration of the development of the western region, the amount of funds traveling to and from the western region will increase. The quality of settlement service not only affects the image of financial department, but also directly affects the speed and efficiency of customer's capital turnover. Therefore, commercial banks should strengthen settlement services and reduce the pressure of bill exchange. The central bank should strengthen the inspection of the settlement discipline of commercial banks and seriously investigate and deal with acts of deliberately suppressing votes and foreign exchange. The second is credit reporting. The large-scale development of the western region is a huge project, and investors who participate in the development of the western region will not only come from the west, but also from the whole country and even other countries and regions in the world. It is neither possible nor economical to ask investors to investigate their credit status and strength one by one. Many branches and wide contacts are important characteristics of financial institutions, which determines that financial institutions can accept the entrustment of customers, and investigate the credit and strength of relevant investors through their branches and contacts to protect customers from undue losses. The third is to provide various off-balance-sheet business services, such as standby letters of credit, loan commitments, futures and options trading guidance for foreign exchange and investment information, etc. The fourth is insurance services. At present, there are still two factors that may still puzzle investors in developing the western region. Subjectively speaking, investors are not accurate in their risk expectations and are afraid that their investment funds will not be recovered when they expire; Objectively speaking, development investment belongs to medium-and long-term investment, and there is a possibility that expectations are inconsistent with reality. Investors are worried that once the investment project fails, they will lose everything. In order to reduce the loss of investors as much as possible, the insurance department should develop new insurance products on the basis of consolidating the traditional insurance business, especially some types of insurance suitable for the characteristics of the western region. For large and super-large projects, it can be jointly guaranteed by a number of insurance companies; If it is underwritten by a single insurance company, it can be reinsurance and reinsurance to other powerful companies. The fifth is to provide information consulting services. The financial industry should also make use of its own advantages to provide investors with relevant financial information, economic and financial change trend prediction and other services.
Third, financial support for the western development requires the financial industry itself.
Some of the above financial support can be provided by the financial department under the existing conditions, while others need to be realized through various reforms and efforts. Therefore, it is urgent to improve the quality of the financial industry itself.
1. Cultivate and explore high-quality financial talents. Due to the unbalanced development of the financial industry itself, there are few financial talents in the western region, especially those with innovative ability and modern financial knowledge and technology. To this end, the main leaders of the financial sector in the western region should first emancipate their minds, boldly select existing talents, mobilize the enthusiasm of talents, and let them play their due role. Secondly, pay close attention to personnel training and training, and cultivate new knowledge and new skilled personnel with certain professional expertise. Thirdly, select some talents from the graduates of professional colleges every year to enrich the current team. Finally, the selection of talents must have certain institutional norms to make real talents stand out.
2. Further improve the financial system. First, according to the actual needs of the western development, the corresponding institutions of the China Development Bank should be established to make it an important representative institution of the central government in the western development. The second is to take the lead in building standardized investment banks in the southwest and northwest regions and engage in standardized investment banking business. Third, establish one or two stock exchanges in the western region, gradually balance the geographical distribution of the securities market, and allow the capital cities in the western region to open the third-tier securities trading market. The fourth is to develop small and medium-sized financial institutions, especially characteristic financial institutions, such as Islamic profit-sharing banks, to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and national economy in the western region. Fifth, relax the conditions for foreign-funded financial institutions to set up branches in the west, allow foreign bank branches to handle RMB business in the west, and allow them to take the lead in setting up retail business to encourage foreign-funded financial institutions to set up institutions in the west for development and investment. Finally, introduce and develop non-bank financial institutions, and allow qualified large enterprises to set up financial companies to improve the efficiency of capital utilization; Approve foreign-funded insurance institutions, especially property insurance companies, to set up institutions in the west, strengthen competition in the insurance industry in the west, and develop insurance products suitable for the development of the west.
3. Implement a flexible credit fund management system. Since the implementation of asset-liability ratio management in China's commercial banks, their risk management and profitability awareness have been enhanced. On the one hand, banks at all levels strictly follow the requirements of asset-liability ratio, on the other hand, they adjust the positions of lower banks through higher banks. It is true that strengthening the asset-liability ratio management of commercial banks is an inevitable requirement for the development of the financial industry, but it should also be noted that China's major commercial banks are implementing the general branch management model of "one-level legal person and multi-level operation". It should be said that under this system, as long as the head office strictly grasps the asset-liability ratio structure, even if it meets the requirements, even after joining the WTO, it will not violate the relevant spirit of WTO and Basel Accord. Under this premise, it is theoretically feasible to appropriately expand the loan ratio of branches in the western region of commercial banks. Therefore, we should try to do some articles on the asset-liability structure of commercial banks to increase the available funds of commercial banks in the western region.
4. Improve the bad debt reserve ratio of commercial banks. Due to the poor enterprise foundation and low efficiency in the western region, the non-performing loans of commercial banks remain high. At present, the actual available funds of commercial banks are very limited. If the bad debt reserve ratio of commercial banks is improved and more bad debts are written off every year, it will not only reduce the tax burden of commercial banks, but also increase the available funds under asset-liability ratio management and improve their traditional business capabilities.