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.
您已閱讀14%（723字），剩餘86%（4494字）包含更多重要資訊，訂閱以繼續探索完整內容，並享受更多專屬服務。