International Business: China targets slower economic growth – Gulf Digital News

International Business: China targets slower economic growth – Gulf Digital News

BEIJING: China yesterday targeted slower economic growth of around 5.5 per cent this year as headwinds including an uncertain global recovery and a downturn in the country’s vast property sector cast a pall on the world’s second-largest economy.

As economic conditions soften, the central bank has started cutting interest rates, local governments have expedited infrastructure spending and the finance ministry has pledged more tax cuts.

There were few surprises in Premier Li Keqiang’s annual work report to the annual session of parliament, as China puts a premium on stability in a politically sensitive year during which President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third leadership term in the autumn.

“We must make economic stability our top priority,” Li told delegates gathered at the cavernous Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square.

Amid coronavirus curbs, this year’s parliamentary meeting will be the shortest ever at six and a half days. “The world economic recovery lacks drive, and commodity prices remain high and are prone to fluctuation. All of this is making our external environment increasingly volatile, grave and uncertain,” Li said.

While the government vowed to ensure supply of key agricultural products including grains, the agriculture minister said