BEIJING: China has set its annual GDP growth target at around 5 percent for 2023, as the country embarked on a rapid economic recovery after a decisive victory against COVID-19, while putting emphasis on ensuring economic stability and high-quality growth, sustainable development amid global economic volatility and geopolitical uncertainty.
While the growth target is reportedly the lowest in dozens of years, it still means China will continue to be one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies, as the global economy is widely expected to further slow down this year and major economies such as the US and the EU are grappling with the risks of recession, analysts noted.
Many economists said that the world’s second-largest economy will likely outperform the target despite facing a series of external risks and challenges, pointing to the country’s accelerating recovery and solid economic fundamentals, as well as sufficient policy tools to tackle those risks and challenges.
The GDP growth target, along with other economic development goals, was released in the Government Work Report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday to the first session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC).
“This year, it is essential to prioritize economic stability and pursue progress while ensuring stability. Policies should be kept consistent and targeted, and they should be carried out in a more coordinated way to create synergy for high-quality development,” Premier Li said in the Government Work Report.
The economic target reflects policymakers’ confidence in the country’s economic performance this year, as China’s economy has rebounded at a pace faster than anticipated in the two months after the country optimized its COVID-19 response, but authorities have taken potentially unexpected factors into consideration given the toughened geopolitical situation and global economic weakness, officials and experts said.
Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times on Sunday that China’s economy might outperform the 5 percent target this year, and that the IMF is likely to further raise forecasts for China’s economic growth to 5.8-6 percent this year.
The IMF recently forecast a GDP growth of 5.2 percent for China this year and 2.9 percent for global growth.
Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, agreed with the assessment that China’s economic performance will in all likelihood exceed the government target due to the country’s strong growth momentum.
“China’s GDP could rise by more than 6 percent in 2023 if the Russia-Ukraine conflict and international unilateralism does not escalate to a large degree… But officials set the GDP growth target at a little slower than that level to show their emphasis on high-quality development and pursuit of a sustainable growth pattern,” he told the Global Times.
In the first two months of 2023, China’s economy performed much better than expected in areas ranging from tourism and entertainment to manufacturing.
–The Daily Mail-Global Times news exhcange item
