China’s censors were busy with the corrector fluid over the weekend. Finance minister Lou Jiwei’s comments last week at a news conference that China was aiming for 7 per cent growth this year were quickly edited to read 7.5 per cent – bang in line with the current official target. The fact that China’s gross domestic product growth slowed to 7.5 per cent in the second quarter, from 7.7 per cent in the first, and looks set to slow further, suggests that Mr Lou’s words were indeed a Freudian slip. Beijing now has a job on its hands to ensure that this slowdown does not turn to a rout.
中國的審查員們肯定忙碌了一個週末。中國財政部長樓繼偉上週在一個新聞發佈會上稱，中國今年的經濟成長目標是7%。經過審改後，這個數字成了7.5%——與目前的官方目標相符。今年第二季度中國國內生產毛額(GDP)增速從第一季度的7.7%放緩至7.5%，看起來還會進一步放緩。這似乎表明，樓繼偉當時是不小心說漏了嘴。如今，確保這一放緩不會導致經濟崩潰是中國政府的首要任務。