China considers 5% annual GDP growth target for next five years

BEIJING: China’s policymakers are close to setting an average annual economic growth target of around 5 per cent for the next five years, at the lower end of ranges previously considered as global risks cloud the outlook, policy sources said. Beijing is looking to set a more flexible growth target for the 14th five-year plan to hedge against external risks caused by the pandemic and rifts with the United States, three people involved in internal discussions said following last week’s agenda-setting leadership meeting. No decisions have yet been made as the government is still drafting detailed economic and social development goals under the five-year plan, taking their guidance from top Communist Party leaders, they said. At last week’s meeting, President Xi Jinping and others laid out a blueprint for China’s five-year plan and key objectives for the next 15 years. They include a goal to turn China into a “high income” nation by 2025 and advance to a “moderately developed” nation by 2035, which implies income of more than $20,000 per person. The World Bank defines “high income” countries as those with per capita gross national income of above $12,535. China’s per capita income reached $10,410 in 2019, according to the World Bank. “Such objectives should be expressed in numbers. We still need a key indicator for economic development during the 14th five-year plan period,” said a policy source. “We will have a GDP target and it could be around 5 per cent.” Government think-tanks and economists had previously made recommendations for average annual GDP growth targets, policy sources have said, which included targets of around 5%, 5-5.5% to 5-6%. Ning Jizhe, vice head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said last week the state planner will set detailed economic targets for 2021-2025 in line with leaders’ recommendations. Targets are expected to be announced when the five-year plan is approved at the annual parliament meeting in early 2021. — Reuters