A leading Chinese economist has called for the use of monetary policy measures and specialist fertility funds to boost China’s ailing fertility rates.
Ren Zeping (任泽平), formerly the chief economist for beleaguered property giant Evergrande Group, believes monetary policy can be used to boost birthrates by providing the appropriate economic conditions and incentives for family formation.
“Surveys indicate that the main reason for low fertility is the excessively high cost of raising children and the excessively high cost of home prices,” wrote Ren in a WeChat post from 10 January.
“For this reason reducing the cost of raising children is the main escape route, and support for the establishment of funds to encourage fertility has risen to 66.5%.
“We should establish fertility incentive funds as soon as possible…the central bank can print an additional 2 trillion yuan to be used for an additional 50 million births by society over ten years.
“This will resolve the problems of an ageing population and fewer children, and give greater vitality to the future, while also not increasing the burden upon average citizens, enterprises or local government.
“In the short-term fertility incentive funds will help to stabilise growth and drive domestic demand, and in the long-term help to improve supply-side economics, optimise the population structure, raise social vitality and increase the potential long-term growth rate.”
