China maintains growth target at 7.5%

Thursday, 6 March 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

REUTERS: China provided its strongest signal yet that it will shift toward balanced and clean economic growth, promising to reduce the pace of investment to the lowest in a decade and wage a “war on pollution”.

In a State of the Union style address to China’s annual parliament meeting that began on Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing aims to grow the world’s second-largest economy by 7.5% this year, the same as last year’s target. Analysts have said maintaining the target after years of breakneck expansion signals that Beijing will remain focused on reforms and rebalancing the economy. Li said enacting reforms was his first priority even as he keeps an eye on growth. Idle factories will be shut, and work on a new environmental protection tax will be sped up to create a greener and more balanced economy powered by consumption rather than investment, he said. “Reform is the top priority for the government this year,” Li told around 3,000 hand-picked delegates in a cavernous meeting hall in central Beijing.“We must have the mettle to fight on and break mental shackles to deepen reforms on all fronts.” To aid the transformation, China’s economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, told parliament that the government will target 17.5% growth in fixed-asset investment this year, the slowest in at least 10 years. Investment is the largest driver of China’s economy and accounted for over half of last year’s 7.7% growth by expanding 19.6%, exceeding an 18% target. Li is scheduled to hold a news conference at the end of the parliament meeting on 13 March.