BEIJING (Reuters) – China set a modest annual economic growth target of more than 6% on Friday and pledged to create more jobs in cities than last year as the world’s second-largest economy of the world planned a careful one-year course interrupted by COVID-19[FEMININE
El 2020, la Xina va abandonar l’objectiu de creixement del producte interior brut de l’informe de treball del primer ministre per primera vegada des del 2002 després que la pandèmia va devastar la seva economia. El PIB de la Xina es va expandir el 2,3% l’any passat, el més feble en 44 anys, però el converteix en l’única economia important que va registrar un creixement.
“Com a objectiu general, la taxa de creixement de la Xina s’ha fixat en més del 6% per a aquest any”, va dir el primer ministre Li Keqiang en el seu informe de treball del 2021. “En establir aquest objectiu, hem tingut en compte la recuperació de l’activitat econòmica”.
Però l’objectiu de 2021 estava significativament per sota del consens dels analistes, que esperen que el creixement pugui superar el 8% aquest any. Les accions xineses van caure.
L’objectiu de creixement conservador de la Xina reflecteix un esforç públic per demostrar un retorn a l’estabilitat econòmica després de la convulsió del COVID-19 de l’any passat, van dir els assessors de polítiques, alhora que mantenia la capacitat de mantenir la gana pel deute i el risc.
“És obvi que el creixement d’aquest any serà superior al 6%. El propòsit és dir a la gent que ens hem de centrar en un creixement de més qualitat ”, va dir a Reuters Yao Jingyuan, assessor del gabinet xinès.
Tot i que l’objectiu de baix PIB no significa que el govern s’afanyi a endurir la política, ja que moltes parts de l’economia encara tenen dificultats, donarà als planificadors més marge per impulsar les reformes.
El primer ministre Li es va comprometre a estimular el consum intern i la innovació, com a part d’un pla per reduir la dependència dels mercats i de la tecnologia per al desenvolupament a llarg termini.
Com a tal, la Xina té previst augmentar la despesa anual en recerca i desenvolupament en més d’un 7% cada any fins al 2025. [L2N2L304E]
“The goal should be a bottom line. We should have more room to push through difficult reforms,” said Xu Hongcai, deputy director of the economic policy committee of the Chinese Political Science Association.
In 2021, China will try to create more than 11 million new urban jobs, Li said in his report presented at the opening of this year’s Parliament meeting, more than last year’s goal of more than 9 million and in line with recent years.
“SERIOUS QUIT”
The government is targeting a 2021 budget deficit of around 3.2% of GDP, less than a target of more than 3.6% last year, although it does provide room to fund infrastructure and help small businesses. companies.
Iris Pang, ING’s chief economist in Greater China, said the continuation of the fiscal latitude was a more significant goal than the growth goal.
“The very low GDP growth target is as if there is no target because the consensus is 8% and my forecast is 7%,” Pang told Reuters.
“I think most of the money will go to technology R&D and will continue to provide some payback for job stability in the event that COVID comes back,” he added.
The share on the issuance of local government special bonds was set at 3.65 trillion yuan ($ 563.65 million), down from 3.75 trillion yuan last year.
China also has no plans to issue special treasury bonds this year, as it has issued these bonds for the first time in 2020 to support the economy.
This year’s government revenue and expenditure outlook is “quite serious,” given the low availability of funds as spending increases, China said in its annual budget report, also released Friday.
The government set the target for consumer price inflation at 2021 at around 3%. Consumer prices rose 2.5% annually last year, exceeding the target by around 3.5%.
In a five-year plan released separately on Friday, China omitted any GDP growth target for 2021-2025 (in contrast to the 6.5% set for the 2016-2020 plan), but said it would maintain its growth. annual average over the next five years in a “reasonable” range.
Annual per capita disposable income growth over the next five years will be “in line with GDP growth,” compared to a 2016-2020 target of more than 6.5%, according to the plan.
There was also no target for job creation over the next five years, although the government said the urban unemployment rate will remain below 5.5%.
($ 1 = 6,4756 Chinese Yuan)
Reports from Kevin Yao, Judy Hua, Stella Qiu, Gabriel Crossley, Cheng Leng, Lusha Zhang and Tony Munroe; Written by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Sam Holmes