China is aiming to expand its economy by around 6.5 percent in 2017 as it continues to implement a proactive fiscal policy and maintain a prudent monetary policy, Premier Li Keqiang said on Sunday.
Top leaders at the National People’s Congress are tolerating slightly slower economic growth this year to give them more room to push through reforms to deal with a build-up in debt.
That 6.5 percent growth target is “needed to achieve the employment objective,” Li said in his prepared remarks.
The government announced ambitious jobs plans, including to ensure that every family has at least one breadwinner, which is key as jobs are cut in major state-owned enterprises.
As the government moves away from manufacturing-led growth, Beijing is tasked with quickly finding new employment for millions of workers, or risk the possibility of social unrest as unemployment looms
China says it expects 11 million new urban jobs will be created this year, but that still wont keep pace with the 15 million new workers the government estimates will enter the market, according to prepared remarks. The government will continue to focus on the coal and steel sectors, with plans in place to cut steel production capacity.
China will continue to implement a city-based policy to reduce real estate inventories, mainly in the third and fourth-tier cities, Li said.
On Sunday, the country also set a budget deficit target of 3 percent of gross domestic product for 2017, the finance ministry said in its work plan, in line with the target set a year earlier.
Li said China will push its drive to cut overcapacity in bloated sectors, with targets to slash steel production capacity by around 50 million tonnes and coal by at least 150 million tonnes this year.
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