The Chinese government on Wednesday announced an annual economic growth target of “around 5%” and pledged to address “sluggish” domestic consumer spending, despite the possible negative effects of the looming trade war with the US.
The target was announced at the opening session of the annual meeting of the Chinese legislature. It is the same as it has been for the past two years but is likely to be more difficult to achieve due to new, higher US tariffs on Chinese products and other economic headwinds. The use of the phrase “periphery” gives the government some leeway in case growth falls short. The target shows the government’s intention to stabilize growth during tough economic periods but avoid more dramatic actions that some economists say are necessary to strengthen it. The government also reported in a draft budget released Wednesday that defense spending will rise 7.2 percent this year to 1.78 trillion yuan ($245 billion), second only to the United States. It published its growth target in a separate report, part of which was presented by Premier Li Qiang to about 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress.
https://apnews.com/article/china-congress-economy-defense-tariffs-d6192774e13ccb7e28e06d4c3f2173c4
