“I take the messages from this [economic work] conference and the Politburo meeting positively,” Zhang said. “I think the shift of policy this week is clearly more significant than that took place in the last week of September.” Chinese officials have ramped up stimulus measures since late September, including several interest rate cuts, looser property purchase requirements, liquidity support for stock markets and a 10-trillion-yuan ($1.4 trillion) stimulus package over five years to alleviate local government debt problems. Chinese stocks surged after the initial stimulus announcements, before trading range-bound. Recent economic data indicated that measures up to now have not proven sufficient to offset persisting deflationary pressure in the economy, fueling investors’ hopes that Beijing would further amp up its stimulus measures to restore growth. The country’s consumer price inflation fell to a five-month low in November, while a deflation in wholesale prices lingers, with the producer price index sliding for the 26th straight month. Chinese authorities have reiterated Beijing’s intention to boost consumption throughout the year. Little in terms of policies has been put in place, other than a subsidy program to incentivize trading in used household appliances and electronic goods. While the policy details and specific figures will only be announced at the National People’s Congress next March, it is widely expected that Beijing will keep its next year’s GDP growth target at “around 5%.” Policymakers may also set a higher-than-usual budget deficit target of up to 4% of gross domestic product, some economists forecast, which would allow more central government borrowing to support the flagging economy.