China ends political meet with call to boost economy

Discussions on ailing housing market, high youth unemployment

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CHINA'S leaders on Monday wrapped up a weeklong key conclave at which they admitted more was needed to revive a sluggish economy battered by an ailing housing market, poor domestic demand and record-high youth unemployment.

Top officials have been upfront about the myriad challenges China is facing, admitting that a modest five percent growth goal will not be easy and that "hidden risks" are dragging the economy down. But they have supplied few details about how they plan to tackle the problems.

Officials have also moved to strengthen powers to deal with threats to their rule and tightened a veil of secrecy around policymaking, scrapping a traditional annual press conference and vowing to include national security provisions in a raft of new laws.

Delegates to the National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, including leader Xi Jinping, gathered at Beijing's Great Hall of the People to rubber-stamp legislation at 3:00 pm local time (0700 GMT) as the conclave came to an end.