Typically held twice a decade but last convened in 2017, the conference offers insight into the policymaking direction currently being pursued by Communist Party leadership.
This year's National Financial Work Conference focused on the need to "strengthen financial supervision... guard against and resolve risks and unswervingly promote finance with Chinese characteristics", official broadcaster CCTV said.
Beijing has charted an uncertain recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as weak consumption and a slow-motion housing crisis weigh on growth.
China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 4.9 percent in the third quarter, but Beijing still faces an uphill battle to achieve its stated annual target of around five percent.
The two-day finance conference concluded on the same day that factory activity fell back into decline, as October data showed that the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index had fallen.
A key measure of factory output, the index stood at 49.5 in October, below the 50-point mark separating expansion from contraction.
Among the biggest challenges now looming over China are woes in the embattled property sector, long a core driver of growth but which has recently been threatened by the severe debt of leading firms Evergrande and Country Garden.
At the conference, officials called for meeting "the reasonable financing needs of real estate enterprises... building a new model of real estate development," said CCTV.
Beijing said last week it would issue one trillion yuan ($137 billion) of sovereign bonds to boost infrastructure spending, having announced a series of targeted measures over recent months to kickstart economic activity.
Hong Kong economic recovery misses estimate in third quarter
Hong Kong (AFP) Oct 31, 2023 -
Hong Kong's economy received a boost from returning tourists and local spending, according to government figures released Tuesday, but its growth in the third quarter still missed expectations.
Real gross domestic product between July and September rose by 4.1 percent from a year earlier, according to the Census and Statistics Department's advance estimates.
This came in below economists' estimate of 5.2 percent growth, Bloomberg News reported.
The Chinese finance hub has lagged behind regional rivals like Singapore after nearly three years of pandemic curbs, which were mostly dropped by late 2022.
A government spokesman on Tuesday credited the third-quarter economic bump to "inbound tourism and private consumption".
"Private consumption expenditure increased further alongside rising household income and the government's various support initiatives, though the rate of increase moderated somewhat," he said.
Private consumption increased by 6.5 percent, while the export of services rose by 24 percent on-year during the period.
Exports of goods fell 8.6 percent, which authorities attributed to weak external demand.
"Inbound tourism and private consumption will continue to underpin economic growth for the rest of the year," the spokesman said, adding that the city could also receive more visitors as handling capacity further recovered.
"Yet, the difficult external environment amid increasing geopolitical tensions and tight financial conditions would continue to weigh on exports of goods and investment and consumption sentiment."
Hong Kong entered a deep recession in 2019 and 2020 after the former British colony was roiled by pro-democracy protests and the start of the pandemic.
The city found brief respite in 2021, as its strict Covid-19 controls largely kept it virus-free, with the economy rebounding by 6.4 percent -- gains that were later wiped out by a 2022 outbreak.
Government officials last November touted the city's "reopening", and have announced initiatives to win back foreign businesses and tourists.
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