BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China will strengthen fiscal policy over the next five years, said the country’s finance minister on Saturday in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

Finance Minister Lan Foan said the country will strengthen counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical regulation and set the deficit-to-GDP ratio and scale of government borrowing to suit evolving conditions.

China will also make use of tools such as the budget, taxation, government bonds and transfer payments, and provide sustained support for economic and social development, Lan said.

Internationally, the external environment is volatile and unstable, and major-country rivalry is becoming more intricate and intense, said Lan, without mentioning any specific countries or China’s trade dispute with the United States.

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