China has abandoned a numerical GDP growth target for 2020, as the economy struggles to recover from the coronavirus crisis.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced the change in his annual government work report delivered to the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, during its annual session in Beijing on Friday.
This is the first time China has chosen not to set an annual economic growth target since it began the practice in 1990.
The government’s target for this year’s fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP is 3.6%, exceeding the level of 3% which has long been seen as a red line that some think shouldn’t be crossed, and significantly higher than last year’s target of 2.8%.
Given the extraordinary circumstances brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, the government plans to issue 1 trillion yuan ($140.5 billion) special treasury bonds this year, marking the issuance of such government debt for the first time since 2007.
Beijing has set this year’s special local government bond quota at 3.75 trillion yuan, up significantly from 2019’s 2.15 trillion yuan.
The work report also set other major targets for economic development this year, including:
• Consumer price index growth of around 3.5%
• More than 9 million new urban jobs
• A surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 6%
More to come
Contact reporter Tang Ziyi (ziyitang@caixin.com) and editor Flynn Murphy (Flynnmurphy@caixin.com)
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