At the press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 20th, Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min, Director General of the Comprehensive Department Li Xianzhong, and Director General of the Financial Department Yu Hong introduced hot topics such as this year's fiscal policy orientation and a package of policies to promote domestic demand through fiscal and financial coordination. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed to continue implementing a more proactive fiscal policy in 2026, with an overall increase in fiscal expenditure and no decrease. Liao Min introduced that in 2026, according to the deployment of the Central Economic Work Conference, the finance department will continue to implement a more proactive fiscal policy, which can be summarized as "increasing the total amount, optimizing the structure, improving efficiency, and increasing momentum". Among them, "total increase" means expanding the fiscal expenditure plate and ensuring the necessary expenditure intensity. In 2026, the fiscal deficit, total debt scale, and total expenditure will remain at a necessary level to ensure that the overall expenditure will only increase and not decrease, and key areas will be protected with only strength and not weakness. At the same time, he introduced that "better structure" mainly means continuously optimizing the expenditure structure to ensure that funds are used in critical areas. 'Better efficiency' means focusing on improving the efficiency of fund utilization, and every penny should generate the expected benefits. 'Stronger momentum' means deepening reforms in key areas of finance and taxation, further stimulating the endogenous vitality of the economy. The State Council executive meeting held recently deployed and implemented a package of fiscal and financial policies to promote domestic demand. Liao Min introduced that today, this package of policies has been successively released, focusing on using greater efforts to "stimulate private investment" and "promote household consumption". Among them, four policies focus on supporting private investment, including implementing interest subsidy policies for loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, implementing special guarantee plans for private investment, etc; Two policies support the promotion of consumption, including optimizing the implementation of loan interest subsidy policies for service industry operators and optimizing the implementation of financial interest subsidy policies for personal consumption loans. When designing policies, we try to simplify the process as much as possible, with policy incentives being 'no application, enjoy' and financial subsidies being 'zero application, direct subsidy'. ”Liao Min said that the fiscal expenditures required for these policies that benefit enterprises and the people have been fully arranged in the 2026 budget. Local and handling agencies can actively carry out business and achieve more with more; Enterprises and residents can also borrow more and get more according to their own production and consumption needs. The financial and tax policies that support technological innovation from four aspects are important tools for supporting technological innovation. Yu Hong stated that by 2025, the Ministry of Finance will comprehensively utilize a series of policy tools such as financial support, tax incentives, fiscal finance, and government procurement to support the integrated development of technological innovation and industrial innovation, and accelerate the realization of high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement. Next, we will continue to vigorously promote high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement, accelerate the cultivation of new driving forces, promote the optimization and upgrading of economic structure, and focus on four aspects of work. One is to leverage the role of government investment funds effectively. Support the National Entrepreneurship Investment Guidance Fund to invest in early, small, long-term, and hard technology, and support enterprises to focus on cutting-edge fields to carry out original and disruptive technological research and development. The second is to support the promotion of upgrading and upgrading of key industries. Strengthen fiscal and financial coordination to support technological innovation. Continuously promoting the transformation of new manufacturing technologies and the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, accelerating the development of intelligence, greenness, and integration. The third is to strengthen the dominant position of enterprises in scientific and technological innovation. Implement the policy of structural tax reduction and fee reduction, with a focus on supporting technological innovation and the development of manufacturing industry. Continue to leverage the policies of the "Little Giant" Development Award and Subsidy for Specialized, Refined, Unique and New Enterprises, as well as the National Small and Medium sized Enterprise Development Fund, to enhance the innovation capabilities and professional level of small and medium-sized enterprises, and help cultivate more specialized, refined, unique and new enterprises, single champion enterprises, gazelle enterprises and unicorn enterprises. The fourth is to accelerate the efficient transformation and application of major scientific and technological achievements. Implement the first (set) and first batch of insurance compensation policies to continuously support the iterative updating and application promotion of technology innovation products that meet the conditions. It is expected to achieve fiscal balance in 2025. Regarding the operation of fiscal revenue and expenditure in 2025, Li Xianzhong stated that the fiscal revenue and expenditure data for 2025 are still being compiled. Based on the current preliminary understanding, the annual fiscal revenue is expected to be "initially low, then high, and finally stable", and the goal of achieving a balanced income and expenditure can be achieved. He stated that in terms of revenue, the national general public budget revenue has maintained a recovery growth trend and is generally stable. In terms of expenditure, the national general public budget expenditure is at the forefront and maintains its intensity, providing necessary financial support for economic and social development. It is expected to achieve a balanced income and expenditure throughout the year. In addition, in 2025, the finance department will continue to optimize its expenditure structure, and key areas such as social security and employment, science and technology, education, and health will receive good guarantees for expenditure. In the first 11 months, the total expenditure of the above four items exceeded 10 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 40% of the general public budget expenditure. At the same time, we continued to accelerate the use of bond funds. In the first 11 months, a total of 5.15 trillion yuan was spent on ultra long term special treasury bond bonds, special bonds of local governments, and special treasury bond funded by central financial institutions. (New Society)