China’s 15th Five-Year Plan ‘exhibits flexibility and adaptation in pursuing longer-term objectives’ in World Economy News 11/02/2026 2026 marks the commencement of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), a pivotal phase in the nation’s medium- to long-term development. A successful venture starts with a good plan and with clear goals set. At this critical juncture, where a profound restructuring of the global order converges with a tipping point in the technological revolution, China’s Five-Year Plan is poised to inject momentum and certainty into global development, charting a steady course for the new journey ahead. In its newly launched “New Blueprint, New Opportunities” series, the Global Times (GT) invites Nobel laureates in economics, former central bank governors, core decision-makers of international organizations and renowned economists from countries with diverse civilizations, different economic systems and stages of development, to deeply analyze how the 15th Five-Year Plan will reshape the underlying logic of China’s interaction with the world and to explore the “anchor of certainty” and “new paradigm of development” this plan offers for a turbulent world. In the second installment of the series, GT reporter Wang Wenwen talked to Margit Molnar (Molnar), head of the China Desk of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Economics Department. Molnar shared her confidence in China’s economy and development. GT: China recently released its economic data for 2025, with its GDP growth at 5 percent, demonstrating a kind of reliability the world expects, as well as a sustainable development logic. Looking ahead to the next five years, why are you confident in China’s economy and development? Molnar: Following a strong performance during the first three quarters of 2025, the announcement of 5 percent GDP growth in 2025 was not a surprise. Even though it was clear from high frequency and soft data that the last quarter would be weaker, it would have been difficult to go below 5 percent for the whole year. The structure of growth at first glance suggests that growth is becoming more sustainable, as it is increasingly relying on consumption. This also bodes well for long-standing calls to rebalance growth from investment to consumption. It is worth noting that the driver of this consumption boom is the trade-in program, which is being extended to an increasing number of goods. However, to unleash the consumption potential, precautionary savings need to be reduced. This would involve boosting incomes and a stronger social safety net. Pensions need to provide a minimum standard of living for older people to reduce savings for old age. This would involve major reforms of the pension system and unification at the national level. Sustainability would also require higher contributions to provide greater benefits in the case of the rural scheme. Unemployment insurance should be extended to all workers so that their standard of living is secured in between jobs. Looking ahead, I am confident in China’s development because of the large room to unleash the consumption potential by implementing approaches as discussed above, as well as large potential for productivity-enhancing structural reforms. Those include addressing administrative monopolies in services industries, which would boost efficiency-enhancing competition, strengthening product quality and consumer protection, which would help reduce excessive competition i