China set a 2018 growth target of around 6.5 percent, omitting an intention to hit a faster pace if possible, as leaders intensify their push to ensure financial stability.
The target was released Monday ahead of Premier Li Keqiang’s report to the National People’s Congress gathering in Beijing. While a target of 6.5 percent is equivalent to last year’s goal, the statement didn’t include an objective for output growth to be “higher if possible in practice" as it did in 2017.
President Xi Jinping has been intensifying his push to curb pollution, poverty and debt risk at a time when the world’s second-largest economy is on a long-term growth slowdown. As a result, numerical GDP targets have been de-emphasized in favor of higher-quality expansion since last year.
While growth handily surpassed 2017’s target with a 6.9 percent expansion -- the first acceleration since 2010 -- economists forecast a moderation to 6.5 percent this year amid the ongoing deleveraging drive and trade tensions with the Trump administration.
Other key objectives included:
— With assistance by Miao Han, Yinan Zhao, Xiaoqing Pi, and Gary Gao.
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