China on course to achieve 5% economic growth target in 2023: premier
Hong Kong Free Press
China is on course to achieve its five per cent target for economic growth in 2023 set by Beijing earlier this year, premier Li Qiang said Tuesday.
“For the whole year, we are expected to achieve the target of about five per cent economic growth set at the beginning of this year,” Li said as he opened a meeting of global political and business leaders in northern China.
“Recently, some international organisations and institutions have also raised their forecasts for China’s economic growth this year, showing their confidence in China’s development prospects,” Li added at the World Economic Forum.
China is grappling with a slowing post-Covid recovery, with a number of lacklustre indicators in recent weeks signalling the rebound is running out of steam.
Beijing’s central bank last week cut two key interest rates in a bid to counter the slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy.
Reports this month have suggested Beijing is lining up a tranche of measures targeting multiple areas of the economy, particularly the real estate sector, which makes up a huge portion of gross domestic product.
Beijing set an economic growth target of “around five per cent” in March, one of its lowest in decades as it emerged from strict zero-Covid rules that hammered business activity.
Premier Li at the time admitted the target would be “no easy task”.
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