China announces more support for economy, holds back on spending package

China's economic planning agency outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy on Tuesday but refrained from major spending initiatives.

The piecemeal nature of the plans announced Tuesday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and Shanghai's benchmark gave up a 10 per cent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to trade just 3 per cent higher.

The head of the National Development and Reform Commission said the government will frontload 100 billion Yuan (USD 14.1 billion) in spending from the government's budget for 2025 in addition to another 100 billion Yuan for construction projects.

The scale of spending overall was well below the multi-trillion Yuan levels that analysts said might be expected.

The NDRC's chairman, Zheng Shanjie, said China was still on track to attain its full-year economic growth target of around 5 per cent. But he acknowledged the economy faces difficulties and an increasingly more complex and extre