CHINA MAINTAINS 5 PER CENT GROWTH TARGET AMID ECONOMIC STRUGGLES

The country expects to create over 12 million jobs in urban areas and keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 5.5 per cent this year, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in his maiden work report presented to the opening session of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress NPC).

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Grappling with an economic slowdown and dwindling business sentiment, China on Tuesday fixed a modest growth target of around five percent this year with a pledge to create 12 million jobs amid growing concerns over rising unemployment.

The country expects to create over 12 million jobs in urban areas and keep the surveyed urban unemployment rate at around 5.5 percent this year, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said in his maiden work report presented to the opening session of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC).

The week-long NPC annual session at the Great Hall of People was attended, among others, by Chinese President Xi Jinping and over two thousand delegates from across the country to deliberate and legislate on key initiatives needed to strengthen the growth of the second-largest economy, which continued with the post-COVID-19 slowdown.

A proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy will be continued, with the ratio of deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) set at three percent and the government deficit to rise by 180 billion yuan (USD 26 billion) from the 2023 budget figure, Li said in his 39-page work report.

This is the first work report by Li, who succeeded Li Keqiang last year. As a staunch Xi loyalist, Li Qiang has discarded the decadeold practice of addressing the media at the end of the annual parliament sessions.

Last year, China posted 5.2 percent GDP, exceeding the official target of around five percent amid mounting market concerns, waning investor confidence, a protracted property market slump, and weak private sector progress.

Significantly, last year, the government stopped publishing data on unemployment for the first time amid reports of a deepening job crisis.