China’s premier says he is ‘fully confident’ the country’s stagnant economy will reach its 5% growth target
Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday he was “fully confident” the country would achieve its economic goals this year, praising recent stimulus measures and saying there was still room to spare. to do more.
Beijing has set a growth target of around 5% for 2024, but in the third quarter the country saw its slowest growth in a year and a half.
The government has announced a series of measures to boost activity, including cutting interest rates and easing some home-buying restrictions, but analysts have complained about the lack of details so far.
Observers hope a concrete figure on the stimulus package could emerge from this week’s meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee (NPC), the top body of China’s rubber stamp parliament. Quoc, in Beijing.
Speaking Tuesday at the opening ceremony of a major international trade show in Shanghai, Li said: “We have full confidence in the realization of this year’s goals and the development of the economy China in the future”.
The Prime Minister, who is officially responsible for economic policy, said that the government still has room to maneuver when introducing further measures.
“There is a relatively large space for fiscal and monetary policies and the policy tools are even richer,” he said.
The initial market rally when the measures were announced failed, leaving investors frustrated by a lack of details.
But there have been recent glimmers of hope for the economy, including China’s manufacturing output rising for the first time in six months in October.
Activity in China’s services sector also accelerated in October, according to an independent index released on Tuesday.
‘China is very, very open’
According to state news agency Xinhua, on Monday, lawmakers in an NPC standing committee meeting considered a bill to raise the debt ceiling of local governments to replace existing contingent liabilities.
Another challenge facing the economy is escalating trade disputes with several key trading partners – most notably the European Union and the United States.
Speaking at the China International Import Expo (CIIE), an annual introductory trade show in the financial center of Shanghai, Mr. Li affirmed that China is committed to opening up further to foreign investment. outside.
China has protested tariffs on electric vehicles imposed by the EU and Washington among other countries.
Beijing last month announced temporary tariffs on EU spirits imports. initiated an anti-dumping investigation on some EU pork and milk imports.
French trade minister Sophie Primas, who is attending CIIE, told AFP on Monday that the window for negotiations on those tariffs remained “open” but warned Paris could take all possible measures in response. .
When asked at the expo on Tuesday whether she thought China was opening up more to foreign companies, she replied that overall, “China is very, very open to all countries, especially France”.
“Obviously there are some disputes at the moment about certain industries… For us, in France, the cognac industry has been hit hard,” she added.
“But the relationships that we’ve had here show that we will be able to continue to negotiate and we will be able to continue to have these long-term relationships.”
