BEIJING: China lowered its current year economic growth target to seven percent on formidable difficulties.
The figure announced by Premier, Li Keqiang, is the lowest since a similar goal in 2004 and comes after China’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.4 percent in 2014, the slowest pace in 24 years. Last year’s target was “about 7.5 percent”.
The cut was widely expected by economists and reflects the reality of a multi-year slowdown in the Asian giant that has seen it come off regular annual double-digit expansions.
Beijing also reduced multiple other targets including trade growth and inflation.
“With downward pressure on China’s economy building and deep-seated problems in development surfacing, the difficulties we are to encounter in the year ahead may be even more formidable than those of last year,” Li told the opening of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s Communist-controlled legislature.
China’s leaders have traditionally pegged the GDP goal at an easily achieved level, and the objective is usually approximated to provide room for positive spin just in case.
Last year’s 7.4 percent result marked the first time since 1998 – during the Asian financial crisis – that the target figure was missed.
