China announced
an economic growth target for 2015 of around 7 percent on Thursday and
said it would boost government spending, signaling that the lowest rate
of expansion for a quarter of a century is the "new normal" for the
world's No.2 economy.
Speaking at the opening of the
country's annual parliamentary meeting, Premier Li Keqiang vowed to
fight corruption and pollution, and stressed the need for more painful
reforms to put the economy on a more sustainable footing after three
decades of breakneck growth.
"The downward pressure on China's economy is intensifying," Li told around 3,000 delegates gathered at the Great Hall of the People to the west of Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
"Deep-seated problems in the country's economic development are becoming more obvious. The difficulties we are facing this year could be bigger than last year. The new year is a crucial year for deepening all-round reforms."
Outlining the government's policy priorities for 2015 in a Chinese equivalent of the U.S. State of the Union address, Li said those priorities included pushing ahead with reforms of the giant state-owned enterprises that still bestride the economy, and moves to liberalize the banking system and financial markets.
"In order to defuse problems and risks, avoid falling into the 'middle income trap', and achieve modernization, China must rely on development, and development requires an appropriate growth rate," said Li.
"At the same time, China's economic development has entered a 'new normal'."
The annual full meeting of the largely rubber-stamp National People's Congress is a colorful event, drawing delegates from all over China, some in traditional ethnic costumes, to the vast hall, a monument to 1950s Communist architecture.
Its role is largely to endorse policy decisions already agreed by the Party hierarchy and provide top leaders with a platform to lay out their priorities for the coming year.
"The downward pressure on China's economy is intensifying," Li told around 3,000 delegates gathered at the Great Hall of the People to the west of Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing.
"Deep-seated problems in the country's economic development are becoming more obvious. The difficulties we are facing this year could be bigger than last year. The new year is a crucial year for deepening all-round reforms."
Outlining the government's policy priorities for 2015 in a Chinese equivalent of the U.S. State of the Union address, Li said those priorities included pushing ahead with reforms of the giant state-owned enterprises that still bestride the economy, and moves to liberalize the banking system and financial markets.
"In order to defuse problems and risks, avoid falling into the 'middle income trap', and achieve modernization, China must rely on development, and development requires an appropriate growth rate," said Li.
"At the same time, China's economic development has entered a 'new normal'."
The annual full meeting of the largely rubber-stamp National People's Congress is a colorful event, drawing delegates from all over China, some in traditional ethnic costumes, to the vast hall, a monument to 1950s Communist architecture.
Its role is largely to endorse policy decisions already agreed by the Party hierarchy and provide top leaders with a platform to lay out their priorities for the coming year.
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