On May 19, 2022, the Macro-Finance Salon (No. 183) was held online. This event was co-hosted by the International Monetary Institute (IMI) and the Department of Monetary Finance, School of Finance, Renmin University of China (RUC), and organized by the Macroeconomic Research Office of IMI. Xiong Yuan, Research Fellow of IMI, Chief Economist and Chief Macro Analyst of the Institute of Guosheng Securities, made a keynote speech titled “The Balance of Ensuring Stable Growth, Employment, Prices and Exchange Rate”. Guan Tao, Global Chief Economist of BOC International; Guan Qingyou, Director and Chief Economist of Rushi Advanced Institute of Finance; Wang Guogang, Professor of the School of Finance, RUC and Member of Academic Committee of CASS; Yao Yudong, Chief Economist and Deputy Head at Dacheng Fund Management Co.; Zhang Ming, Deputy Director of National Institution for Finance & Development and Deputy Director of Finance Institute of CASS gave speeches respectively. The salon was moderated by Sun Chao, Deputy Director and Research Fellow of the Macroeconomic Research Office of IMI.

Xiong Yuan delivered a keynote speech, covering five aspects: economy, employment, prices, exchange rate and policy. In terms of economy, China’s economy has slowed since March, with the real estate market and consumer spending reflecting less confidence and domestic demand. In the aspect of employment, ensuring employment plays a vital role in ensuring steady growth and operations of market entities. In the field of prices, the key issue lies in the economic downturn. Inflation will not constrain China’s monetary and fiscal policies. Concerning the exchange rate, the Central Bank will stabilize the RMB exchange rate. The trend of the RMB exchange rate reflects China’s external environment. Regarding policy, first, we need to keep an eye on the pandemic prevention and control. Second, implementing national policies is important; Third, new policies need to be released, including further relaxing constraints on real estate infrastructure; Fourth, China’s external environment is facing greater pressure. We need to maintain confidence and, more importantly, make every effort to maintain steady growth.