China’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission or NDRC, held a press conference on Monday to elaborate the country’s macro-economic policies and social development.
The newly-appointed chairman of NDRC, He Lifeng, and vice chairmen Zhang Yong and Ning Jizhe, took questions from the media.
During the press conference, Chairman He has expressed his confidence in meeting the GDP target, citing healthy growth last year and deepening reform that improves economic environment.
China’s economy performed “steadily and healthily” in 2016, said He, adding that the economic growth target of around 6.5 percent set for 2017 is both “necessary and attainable.”
Speaking of the poverty relief work, He said that 12 million people were lifted out of poverty in China last year.
When talking about the globalization, He said China is opening wider to the outside world. Chinese contribution to global growth last year was over 30%, which is "remarkable," mentioned He, adding that China has also benefited from globalization.
Over 11 million people are expected to join the Chinese workforce in 2017, and eight million of them will be college graduates, said He when he talked about China's job market.
When asked about China's price reforms, Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of NDRC, answered that the price in China last year was “basically stable.”
“The CPI rose 2 percent in 2016, which was below the government's 3-percent target set for the whole year, while the PPI dropped 1.4 percent," said Ning, adding that “in general it was still normal.”
During the press conference, Ning has vowed to do a good job in price inspection and anti-monopoly work.
The year 2016 was the first year of the implementation of China's 13th Five-Year Plan between 2016 and 2020. When asked about the plan, Chairman He has reviewed last year's work.
"Last year’s tasks have been carried out smoothly, and next year we will organize assessments of the implementation of the five-year plan," said He.
Private sector analysts say the decision to set a target again this year indicates Chinese leaders still are concerned with the total growth figure despite saying they want to switch to other indicators such as job creation and income growth. Some suggested hitting this year's target might require Beijing to pump up activity by easing bank lending, which would set back reform efforts.
The world's second-largest economy grew 6.9 percent last year — above the official target of "6.5 percent or higher" — but that was due partly to a boom in lending and real estate sales that regulators are trying to cool due to fears of rising debt.
"The government still set a growth target for 2018 despite the rhetoric about moving away from the speed of growth to quality of growth," UBS economists said in a report.
They noted that the official target for growth of retail sales is 10 percent, or a faster pace than the overall economy, while Beijing refrained from setting a goal for investment.
