BEIJING: China premier, Li Keqiang, said in his annual press conference in Beijing that China will struggle to meet seven percent its growth target.
“In recent years, we have not taken any strong, short-term stimulus policies and we still have more tools in the toolbox,” he added.
Analysts suggest that China, which saw 7.4% growth last year, will probably miss its target again. Authorities are hammering home the need to adjust to a “new normal” of lower growth as the country seeks more balanced development. “The pain of reform is still there. Actually the pain is becoming more acute,” Li said.
“This is not nail clipping, this is like cutting off one’s limb with a sword and we have to do it despite the pain.”
Questions at the press conference are pre-screened and it rarely offers major political revelations: many of Li’s remarks echoed those he has made in previous years. But, like the spring meetings of the largely rubber-stamp parliament and the country’s political consultative body, it helps to indicate the government’s plans and progress.
The number of China’s online and mobile banking users surged to over 900 million last year as banks embrace digital technology to offer better user experience for internet financial transactions, the China Banking Association said yesterday.
Online banking users rose 19.7 percent in 2014 from a year ago to 909 million, while mobile banking users jumped 30.5 percent to 668 million, the association’s data showed.
By transaction value, deals made through websites totaled 1,248.9 trillion yuan (US$199 trillion), up 17 percent annually, and those made via mobile phone applications more than doubled to 31.74 trillion yuan.
“Banks have used modern technology to upgrade services, and the combination between the Internet and finance has offered a new experience for consumers,” said Yang Zaiping, deputy head of the association.
The association said 292 million dealings worth 107.3 billion yuan were made via the WeChat app last year. The value surged over 161 times of that in 2013.
