An official of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) recently answered a journalist’s question regarding S&P Global Ratings' decision to maintain China's sovereign credit rating at "A+" with a "stable" outlook.

Journalist: On August 28, S&P Global Ratings released a report maintaining China's sovereign credit rating at "A+" with a "stable" outlook. What is the MOF’s view on this?

MOF: We welcome S&P Global Ratings' decision to maintain China's sovereign credit rating at "A+" with a "stable" outlook. This decision fully recognizes the resilience of China's macroeconomy, the soundness of its fiscal performance and the effectiveness of its risk prevention and control, reflecting the international market's confidence in China's prospects for high-quality development.

In the first half of 2026, China's economy maintained overall stable performance, with its development resilience continuing to strengthen. The industrial structure was further optimized, the potential of domestic demand was steadily unleashed, key areas received strong support and new growth drivers increasingly played a leading role. As a result, the Chinese economy achieved effective qualitative improvement and reasonable quantitative growth. Recently, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raised its forecast for China's economic growth in 2026 to 4.6 percent, once again demonstrating the international community's positive assessment of China's economic growth potential.

In the second half of the year, the Chinese government will continue to implement more proactive and effective macro policies, make greater efforts to implement the package of coordinated fiscal and financial policies aimed at boosting domestic demand, enhance the forward-looking, targeted and coordinated nature of its policies, and continue to amplify the combined policy effects. We will make coordinated efforts to expand domestic demand and deepen supply-side structural reform, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, effectively safeguard and improve people's well-being, strive to achieve the annual economic and social development goals and lay a solid foundation for a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30).

Overall, China's economy enjoys a solid foundation, numerous advantages, strong resilience, and enormous potential. The fundamentals underpinning its long-term positive growth trajectory remain unchanged. We have the confidence and capability to continue consolidating the sound momentum of development, maintain the country's sound and reliable creditworthiness, and continue to earn recognition from the international market.