SHANGHAI: China Government has decided to reduce its economic growth target for this year. Expenditure for research and development should comprise more than 3.6% of the city’s 2015 GDP. Government will optimize its economic setup and alter its growth model primarily driven not by investments but by innovation.
This in a government work report, showing the city’s goal to become an international hub for technological innovation, during the yearly meeting of the legislature. Yang also said that Shanghai’s economy will keep a stable growth this year after its 7% growth rate in 2014 fell behind the national average.
The Chinese leadership has called for greater tolerance for slower growth, and a handful of provinces and municipalities have lowered their goals for 2015 growth after missing targets last year. Influential economic advisors said in December that China should cut its 2015 economic growth target to 7 percent.
Beijing is under pressure to take assertive steps to avoid a sharper downturn, after reporting the Chinese economy grew at its slowest pace in 24 years in 2014. Property prices cooled and heavy debts weighed on companies and local governments.
New Year’s Eve stampede that left 36 dead was a “terrible failure in public safety.
China punished 11 city officials for failing to prevent the stampede, which injured dozens and damaged the image of the country’s most cosmopolitan city.
