China’s political leadership set a gloomy projection for growth in the world’s second-largest economy this weekend, despite the buzz of optimism following three years of closures during the coronavirus pandemic.
Policymakers at the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament in Beijing set a growth target of just 5 per cent for 2023, the lowest in decades and trailing last year’s Covid-era figure of 5.5 per cent, which it failed to reach.
“The reason to choose a low target is to ensure they can hit it,” said Carlos Casanova, senior economist for Asia at investment bank UBP, who described the 5 per cent figure as a “floor” that should easily be exceeded, in part because of comparisons with last year’s weakness.
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