BEIJING – China is pushing for economic growth of “around five percent” in 2025, an official document seen by AFP on Wednesday showed, an ambitious goal as Beijing faces down an intensifying trade war with the United States and deepening economic doldrums at home.
The goal came with China already buffeted by strong economic headwinds, including a persistent property sector debt crisis, stubbornly low consumer demand and stuttering employment for young people.
It is also broadly in line with an AFP survey of analysts ahead of its official announcement later in the morning by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in the opening speech of the country’s rubber-stamp National People’s Congress (NPC) parliament.
Experts say that figure is ambitious considering the economic challenges facing the country.
It came alongside a pledge to create 12 million new jobs in China’s cities and push for two percent inflation in 2025.
Thousands of delegates will congregate in the morning for the opening session of the NPC, the second of China’s “Two Sessions” meetings this week.
The world’s second-largest economy has struggled to regain its footing since the pandemic, as domestic consumption flags and a persistent debt crisis in the vast property sector drags on.
Adding to the hurdles is US President Donald Trump, who this week slapped more blanket tariffs on Chinese imports following a similar move last month.
US tariffs are expected to hit hundreds of billions of dollars in total trade between the world’s two largest economies.
“Internationally, changes unseen in a century are unfolding across the world at a faster pace,” the government work report said.
“Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise,” it warned.
And “domestically, the foundation for China’s sustained economic recovery and growth is not strong enough,” it added.
