China's key party congress set to kick off on October

At the end of August, government officials announced that the 19th National People's Congress of the Communist Party of China (NPC) will begin on October 18. The NPC, which convenes every five years, will be attended by roughly 2,300 delegates tasked with choosing a new Central Committee, which in turn installs the party leadership, politburo and the politburo's 7-member standing committee. President Xi Jinping's selection as party leader for a new five-year term and a reshuffling of people in key party posts should help Xi consolidate his power base.

Economic policy has recently focused on supporting growth and preventative measures to deal with emerging problems in order to secure stable conditions across the board going into the NPC. The economic policies that emerge from the conference are of key interest to China and the world. While Xi has spoken on many occasions about the importance of market reforms and getting China's debt problems under control, the government has cracked down with e.g. increased censorship and increased exercise of party power that bode poorly for market reforms.