- COP29 fight looms over climate funds for developing world
- Shanghai stocks soar to extend stimulus rally amid Asia-wide drop
- Australia moves to expand Antarctic marine park
- Tragedy of Madrid street sweeper highlights how heatwaves kill
- Survivors wait for aid as Trump's lies help cloud Helene response
- Fleeing Israeli bombs, Lebanon's displaced met with suspicion
- Jila Mossaed, from refugee poet to Swedish Academy
- Will Tesla's robotaxi reveal live up to hype?
- Drugs, people smuggling at heart of Mexico's raging violence
- 'Invisibility' and quantum computing tipped for physics Nobel
- Musk says he is 'all in' on Trump in US election
- Category 5 Hurricane Milton roars towards storm-battered Florida
- Carpenter bomb stuns Guardians as Tigers level series
- Harris, Trump and Biden mark Oct. 7 attacks as US election looms
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street falls
- US judge orders Google to open Android to rival app stores
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights 'sacred' multi-front war
- Nobel scientist uncovered tiny genetic switches with big potential
- Grammy-winning Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney, dies at 91
- UN biodiversity summit in Colombia aims to turn words into action
- Georgia Supreme Court reinstates six-week abortion ban
- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
SCS | -0.15% | 12.95 | $ | |
BCC | 1.68% | 141.27 | $ | |
NGG | -1.56% | 65.48 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.53% | 24.57 | $ | |
RELX | -0.54% | 46.04 | $ | |
RIO | -0.11% | 69.62 | $ | |
GSK | -0.49% | 38.63 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
VOD | 0.31% | 9.69 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
JRI | -0.76% | 13.18 | $ | |
BCE | -0.54% | 33.53 | $ | |
AZN | -0.78% | 76.87 | $ | |
BP | 0.78% | 33.14 | $ | |
BTI | -0.26% | 35.2 | $ |
China's Congress to focus on boosting slowing economy
A property downturn, slowing economy and war in Ukraine loom large over this week's annual convening of China's legislature, with policymakers expected to focus on shoring up faltering growth.
The rubber-stamp parliament starting Saturday in Beijing gathers some 3,000 members of the National People's Congress (NPC) for highly choreographed meetings over bills, budgets and personnel changes.
The ruling Communist Party uses the opportunity to tout its achievements while also setting the country's economic blueprint and GDP target for the year ahead.
Much of the NPC's agenda is unknown until during -- or even after -- the multi-day meeting, with many sessions taking place behind closed doors.
But this year, concerns are bound to centre on the country's sluggish economic growth, partly down to a crunch in the crucial property sector -- which makes up as much as a quarter of national output.
Stringent "zero-Covid" measures including harsh lockdowns and closed borders have also been a major blow to manufacturing hubs, tourist centres and port cities.
Meanwhile, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised the prospect of spiking food and oil prices, with fears over supplies of crucial commodities from the region being affected.
Commerce Minister Wang Wentao admitted to journalists this week that China's economy faces "huge" pressure this year.
- GDP and stability -
Beijing traditionally announces its new economic growth target at Premier Li Keqiang's annual "state of the nation" speech at the NPC, followed by his rare -- but heavily stage-managed -- press conference.
China's GDP growth slowed sharply in the final months of 2021 despite an earlier pandemic bounceback, as it grappled with tepid domestic demand and a property downturn.
The country's communist leaders have long based their legitimacy on the argument that their model of government represents economic growth and continuity for China's massive population.
But as much of the rest of the world now reopens, China is increasingly out of step, as continued Covid-19 restrictions weigh on consumer confidence.
Maintaining stability will be crucial as the Communist Party gears up for a pivotal meeting this fall -- the 20th party congress -- that is expected to easily secure President Xi Jinping a third term.
In 2020, there was no GDP target set at all, and last year Li announced a modest goal of "above six percent".
Amid the unpredictability, analysts expect Beijing to announce a similarly open and attainable target this year.
"We expect the growth target to be set at 'above five percent'," UOB economist Ho Woei Chen said in a recent report, adding that pace would match the past two years' average of 5.1 percent.
Iris Pang, ING's chief economist for Greater China, expected the range could be higher after the country easily exceeded last year's target.
And infrastructure would probably form a key part of the government's support for the economy, predicted ANZ Research senior China strategist Zhaopeng Xing.
He expected "double-digit growth in infrastructure investment" in the first quarter, on top of tax cuts and the central bank's earlier interest rate cuts.
F.Dubois--AMWN