Presentation Meeting of “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Report" Was Successfully Held

In the morning of January 14, 2022, the school of Public Economics and Economics and Management of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics successfully held the presentation meeting of the “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Report”. This was the fourth time that the PPP task group of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics evaluated the information publicity situation of China’s PPP market since the “China PPP Market Transparency Report” issued from 2017 to 2019. The meeting at this time was held in both online and off-line forms. Director Jiao Xiaoping and Deputy Director Yang Jianmin of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Center of the Ministry of Finance, Professor Hu Hao, member of the Standing Committee of Party Committee and Director of Publicity Department of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Professor Zhou Yahong, Dean of the School of Economics of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Zhang Liao, Board Chairman of Shanghai Jibang Investment Consulting Co., Ltd., Zhao Shikun, Managing Director of Beijing Zhongze Rongxin Management Consulting Company, Yang Jie, Director of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Finance Department of Yunnan Province, and Sheng Feng, Class-II Researcher of the Public-Private Partnership Department of the Finance Department of Hebei Province, attended this presentation meeting in online form, meanwhile, reporters of news media including the China Financial and Economic News, China Business Network, Eastday, People.com.cn, the Economic Observer, China Youth Daily, etc. also attended this meeting in online form. Professor Xu Fei, the Deputy Principal of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics attended the presentation meeting and made a speech, Professor Fang Fang and Associate Professor Zong Qingqing from the research team of the “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Report” also attended the presentation meeting. The meeting was presided over by Professor Fang Fang, the Party Secretary of the School of Public Economics and Management.

The presentation meeting was opened from the welcoming speech by Professor Xu Fei, the Deputy Principal of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Professor Xu Fei expressed warm welcoming and gratitude to the attending guests on behalf of the university. He pointed out that under the background that PPP information transparency has become a critical indicator to measure the development quality of PPP market, the task group of the PPP Center of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics issued the “China PPP Market Transparency Report” for four years in a row, which has generated very good social responses, and has become a brand project of think tank construction of the School of Public Economics and Management of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

Later, Director Jiao Xiaoping of the PPP Center of the Ministry of Finance made a speech, he indicated that information disclosure is good for governance and economic operation. Information disclosure is not only an important means of the modernization of national governance system and governance capacity, but also an effective measure to enhance government management level, and also a source of innovation to enhance the efficiency of economic operation. In order to implement the requirements on further deepening of the budget management system reform, the Ministry of Finance issued the modified PPP Information Disclosure Management Method in last year, which, compared with the previous edition, enriched the contents of disclosure, extended the liable entities, optimized the method and time of disclosure, and further consolidated the regulatory measures as well as established dynamic adjustment mechanism. In order to further improve the high-quality PPP information disclosure, it will implement the participation by various parties, strengthen the rules and standards, and complete the contents of disclosure. Director Jiao Xiaoping also fully recognized the objective evaluation of China’s PPP market transparency made by Shanghai University of Finance and Economics as an independent third party, and believed that this work has become an important force to promote the high-quality development of China’s PPP market, and also an important exploration of the innovation for jointly established, jointly governed and shared social governance.

Next up, Zong Qingqing, a member of the task group, issued the “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Report” in both Chinese and English on behalf of the task group. According to his introduction, the task group made detailed evaluation of the information disclosure work of the 9,962 projects in the PPP management database of the Ministry of Finance by the end of 2020, and formulated a set of “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Index”. This index consists of 68 index fields, through the statistical analysis of specific results of index, the task group found that the total index of Chinese PPP market transparency in 2020 was 78.15, which further improved from that in 2019, the task group analyzed the factors that promoted the enhancement of PPP market transparency index in 2020. The task group also researched and analyzed the information disclosure situation of PPP intermediaries, and found that the average score of transparency index of intermediaries was 70.16 points, which had relatively little change compared with that in last year, through further research and analysis, the task group believed that there was significant positive correlation between the transparency index score of intermediaries and the number of PPP projects participated by the intermediaries and the existing ages of the intermediaries. The task group pointed out, after large amount of data analysis and research, that information transparency is not only good for increasing the participating enthusiasm and degree of participation by social capitals, but also good for enhancing the quality of investments to PPP projects. The regions with more transparency of PPP information tended to have faster commencement after project signing. To sum up, over the four years from 2017 to 2020, the total index of PPP market in China has been continuously growing, and both the disclosure index and the proper disclosure index have reflected rising trend.

After the reporting by member of the task group, Yang Jie, Director of the Public-Private Partnership Center of the Finance Department of Yunnan Province, Sheng Feng, Class-II Researcher of the Public-Private Partnership Department of the Finance Department of Hebei Province, Zhang Liao, Board Chairman of Shanghai Jibang Investment Consulting Co., Ltd., Zhao Shikun, Managing Director of Beijing Zhongze Rongxin Management Consulting Company, Hu Hao, member of the Standing Committee of Party Committee and Director of Publicity Department of Shanghai Jiaotong University, Professor Zhou Yahong, Dean of the School of Economics of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and other attending experts spoke highly of the results made in the “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Report”, and proposed pertinent suggestions on the evaluation and research of higher-quality information disclosure, they believed that information disclosure is the essential requirement and important guarantee for the high-quality development of PPP market, effective information disclosure will be good for promoting social capitals to actively participate in PPP projects, the information disclosure of China’s PPP market has obtained good effect and has been continuously developing, and it’s worth continuous follow-up and evaluation.

Lastly, Professor Fang Fang, the head of task group expressed that she is very grateful for the recognition and encouragement made by Director Jiao Xiaoping of the PPP Center of the Ministry of Finance and the attending experts & professors over the “2020 China PPP Market Transparency Report”, and even more grateful for the improvement suggestions made by the various experts and professors, the task group will actively absorb the opinions and suggestions in future researches, promote the research on China’s PPP market transparency to more scientific, deeper and more comprehensive level, and play important role in the comprehensive enhancement of the high-quality development of PPP market, and in appropriately advanced infrastructure investments.

The doctoral students and postgraduate students of the School of Public Economics and Management of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics also actively attended the research and discussion. The presentation meeting was closed with the attendees greeting each other a happy New Year of Tiger.