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From 14 to 15 October, Asia-Pacific Financial Forum 2021 (APFF), co-organised by APFF, China Chamber of International Commerce (CCOIC), Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences (CAFS) and Society of Public Finance of China (SPFC), was held in Beijing with the theme of “Building Innovative and Inclusive Financial Markets”. Liu Shangxi, President of CAFS, said at the forum that digitalisation is an important direction for the development of the world economy, and the development of digital finance will be an important innovation for the Asia-Pacific financial market.
Liu Shangxi said that with financialisation and digitalisation ongoing, the economy continues to break out of physical forms and becomes increasingly virtual. Traditional industries such as agriculture, industry and services have been downgraded to the basis for development, while the future development lies in the virtualised new economic sectors. Just as the industrial society is based on agriculture, the digital society will be based on real industry. As the digital revolution is ushered in, industry and manufacturing will remain important as the basis of the national economy, but will no longer play a dominant role in economic growth. The high end of the value chain in the future is not primarily physical manufacturing, but virtual manufacturing and services, including virtual intelligent design, testing, marketing and services, and the virtual space formed by the interconnection of people, machines and things will become valuable and
He further elaborated that innovation and inclusion is the optimal means to weigh up risks. The digital economy is an important direction for the development of the world economy. As finance is the core of the modern economy, the development of digital finance will become an important innovation in the Asia-Pacific financial market. With the development of technology, financial institutions have been more proactive in using technology to facilitate their businesses, and have made a lot of progress in enriching financial products and tools, improving the efficiency and inclusiveness of financial services, continuing the digital transformation of financial institutions, and helping to eliminate poverty. The next step is to implement the APEC Roadmap for the Internet and Digital Economy in a comprehensive and balanced manner, strengthen the construction of digital financial infrastructure, promote the diffusion and application of new technologies, and strive to build an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for digital financial services.
According to Liu Shangxi, addressing climate change, promoting the orderly achievement of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the Asia-Pacific region, and foster green development have also become important elements of financial innovation. "China's green financial development is at the forefront of the Asia-Pacific region, and financial innovations related to the building of carbon emission rights markets and financial support related to new energy development in relatively underdeveloped regions are being continuously upgraded and improved." Liu Shangxi said.
Liu Shangxi said that with the rapid development of the new economy, the market's risk expectations of macro policies are rapidly changing and traditional theories should keep pace with the times. For example, in the coordination of macroeconomic policies, efforts should be made in the mindset shifting from “counter-cycle” to “counter-risk”. Counter-risk, in essence, is to weigh up risks. Taking a holistic view, we should change our perspective, broaden our horizon and study the new stage based on the new logic of the new economy.