China Sets Economic Growth Target Around 5.5% for This Year

The National People's Congress Opens Today, Premier Li Keqiang's Work Report
Consumer Price Inflation Managed Around 3%, 11 Million Jobs Created

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] The Chinese government has set this year's economic growth target at "around 5.5%." This is about 0.5 percentage points higher than the initially expected target of "5% or more."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 5th, ahead of the work report of the National People's Congress (NPC) held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the State Council of China released materials stating this year's GDP growth target. Last year, the Chinese government set the economic growth target at "6% or more."

At the Central Economic Work Conference in December last year, the Chinese government forecasted that the economy would face a challenging year in 2022 due to "demand contraction," "supply shocks," and "weakened expectations," describing these as triple pressures.

Despite the unexpected variable of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the economic growth target was set higher than anticipated.

After the Central Economic Work Conference, the Chinese government showed a strong intention to stimulate the economy through infrastructure investment and other measures. Considering the clear intention to inject funds to boost the economy, it appears that this year's economic growth target was raised compared to initial expectations.

The Chinese government also set a goal to create more than 11 million urban jobs while achieving an economic growth rate of around 5.5% this year. It is known that China generates about 2 to 2.1 million jobs per 1% of GDP.

Additionally, the target for this year's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase was set at approximately 3%, similar to last year's target. This reflects the intention to control inflation. Along with this, to prevent threats to food security such as rising international grain prices, the grain production target for this year was set at 650 million tons.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.