 "Chinese premier warns of economic barriers to private enterprise")
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, in his annual speech to the nation on Thursday, warned that China would have to overcome economic inefficiencies, excess capacity and impediments to private enterprise if it were to maintain healthy rates of growth.
In his state-of-the-nation report to the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-run legislature, which meets in full session once a year, Keqiang lowered the target for economic growth to "approximately seven per cent" and announced new policies and programs that would encourage a more robust private sector to create jobs and foster innovation, moving the country away from its dependence on government-led infrastructure investment. He acknowledged in his opening remarks that the transition would weigh on total growth and would face challenges.
The new target is down from the goal of 7.5 per cent that the government set for 2014. Last year's actual expansion of 7.4 per cent was the country's slowest since 1990.
Speaking in front of 3,000 appointed delegates to the congress, he sketched out an expansive and lofty vision for fostering economic growth and improving the lives of China's 1.3 billion citizens. He promised to add 10 million urban jobs, increase monthly pension payments to retirees by 10 per cent, build 7.4 million units of government-subsidised housing and construct nearly 5,000 miles of rail.
He repeatedly signalled the leadership's determination to reduce the nation's dependence on infrastructure construction - spending that economists have warned is often inefficient and unprofitable and led to the worrying levels of debt accrued by local governments across the country. Instead, he said, China will make market forces and consumer demand its priorities.
"In expanding consumption, we need to ensure that every drop of spending builds to create a mighty river, so that the potential contained in an ocean of private consumers will be channelled into a powerful force driving economic growth," he said.
Like previous work reports, Keqiang's speech was suffused with an almost utopian vision of China's future and a grab bag of proposals to enhance the lives of ordinary people.
©2015 The New York Times News Service
In his state-of-the-nation report to the National People's Congress, the Communist Party-run legislature, which meets in full session once a year, Keqiang lowered the target for economic growth to "approximately seven per cent" and announced new policies and programs that would encourage a more robust private sector to create jobs and foster innovation, moving the country away from its dependence on government-led infrastructure investment. He acknowledged in his opening remarks that the transition would weigh on total growth and would face challenges.
The new target is down from the goal of 7.5 per cent that the government set for 2014. Last year's actual expansion of 7.4 per cent was the country's slowest since 1990.
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"China's economic development has entered a new normal," Keqiang said. "Systemic, institutional and structural problems have become 'tigers in the road,' holding up development. Without deepening reform and making economic structural adjustments, we will have a difficult time sustaining steady and sound development."
Speaking in front of 3,000 appointed delegates to the congress, he sketched out an expansive and lofty vision for fostering economic growth and improving the lives of China's 1.3 billion citizens. He promised to add 10 million urban jobs, increase monthly pension payments to retirees by 10 per cent, build 7.4 million units of government-subsidised housing and construct nearly 5,000 miles of rail.
He repeatedly signalled the leadership's determination to reduce the nation's dependence on infrastructure construction - spending that economists have warned is often inefficient and unprofitable and led to the worrying levels of debt accrued by local governments across the country. Instead, he said, China will make market forces and consumer demand its priorities.
"In expanding consumption, we need to ensure that every drop of spending builds to create a mighty river, so that the potential contained in an ocean of private consumers will be channelled into a powerful force driving economic growth," he said.
Like previous work reports, Keqiang's speech was suffused with an almost utopian vision of China's future and a grab bag of proposals to enhance the lives of ordinary people.
©2015 The New York Times News Service