The Chinese economy is expected to rebound and return to steady growth this year, with more jobs created on the back of expanding consumption and a recovering real estate sector, a senior political advisor said.
Ning Jizhe, vice-chairman of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and also a political advisor, made the remarks right before the first session of the 14th National People's Congress on Sunday, when the Chinese government set a modest target of "around 5 percent" for 2023 economic growth.
The Chinese economy grew 3 percent last year, a hard-won achievement considering the impact of COVID-19 as well as many uncertainties, said Ning, adding that the priority for 2023 and beyond is to ensure both the speed and quality of economic growth. Ideal growth should be one that is close to the growth potential of the huge Chinese economy.
"A growth target breaks down to a variety of indexes, with employment, consumer prices and balance in international payments as the most important ones. In particular, there must be a fair amount of employment to ensure the benefits of economic growth trickle down to the people," he said.
The newly unveiled Government Work Report set the employment target at 12 million new urban jobs this year, 1 million more than last year.
He said that robust consumption recovery over the past two months, driven by the unleashing of pent-up demand for travel and services, has signaled the potential for this year's growth, and that construction of key projects envisioned in the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) has begun in earnest. All these developments bode well for the economy.
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Post time: Mar-20-2023