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The 14th National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, opened its fourth session on Thursday, setting a GDP growth target of 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent for this year, and vowing to boost high-tech industries and further its opening-up drive.
Analysts said the growth target aligns with the country’s pursuit of high-quality development and is ”more healthy” and sustainable. President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other leaders attended the opening meeting.
Premier Li Qiang delivered a government work report in which the work of 2025 was reviewed, and top priorities and tasks were laid out for this year, the first year of the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), which sets the tone for the development of the world’s second-largest economy in the coming five years.
The country targets an economic growth of 4.5 per cent to 5 per cent this year and ”will strive for better results in practice”, according to the government work report.
Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgium-China Economic and Commercial Council, said: ”(China’s) growth rates today are naturally lower than those seen five or 10 years ago, but that is normal and even healthy. Sustained double-digit growth is neither realistic nor sustainable for an economy of China’s size and sophistication.”
He said China still boasts some favourable factors to ensure its long-term growth resilience, citing its pursuit of high-quality growth, a large population with a significant number of graduates coming from universities, and its heavy investment in innovation, technology and green transformation.
”These structural strengths provide a solid foundation for steady and sustainable development,” he said.
As China’s economic trajectory becomes more mature and more innovation-driven, Dewit said he is optimistic about the country’s long-term growth prospects.
Marshall Mills, the International Monetary Fund’s senior resident representative in China, said China’s vast savings pool signals strong potential for private consumption to become a core growth engine.
Li said China will pursue a more proactive fiscal policy this year, with the deficit-to-GDP ratio for this year set at around 4 per cent. An ”appropriately accommodative” monetary policy will be adopted, he said.
The country will also strive to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by around 3.8 per cent.
China will also make efforts to nurture emerging industries, such as integrated circuits, aviation and aerospace, and industries of the future, such as future energy, quantum technology and embodied AI.
Efforts will be made to expand market access and opening-up in areas such as value-added telecom services, biotechnology and wholly foreign-owned hospitals this year, the government work report said.
By China Daily, Zhang Zhouxiang in Brussels, Zhou Lanxu in Beijing and Xinhua contributed to this story
