China set an official target for gross domestic product (GDP) growth of around 5% in 2024 in Premier Li Qiang’s “Government Work Report” submitted to the National People’s Congress on Tuesday morning. The 2024 target was about the same as the 5.2% GDP growth rate reported in 2023.
China’s state-owned Global Times was popular Mr. Li’s report proves that “China’s economy will continue to be one of the fastest growing major economies and the largest contributor to global growth.”
“This is a relatively high target and shows that the central government has relatively high confidence,” said Wang Ze, an economist at Beijing Normal University.
of Global Times He said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted China’s growth rate at 4.2% in its January World Economic Outlook report, which is higher than the claimed 2023 growth rate or Li Qiang’s 2024 growth rate. Although this is significantly lower than expected, it is still higher than the global average growth rate of 3.1%. Developed country.
The Chinese Communist Party newspaper claimed that:
Amid the global economic downturn and the increasingly complex geo-economic situation, China’s economy faces challenges and risks, but Chinese policymakers have the freedom to address these challenges and ensure stable growth. Japan still has a wealth of policy tools available to it.
A projected 5% GDP growth rate was enough to increase China’s military budget by 7.2%. Global Times As I expected drawn as a “rational” and “restrained” force for world peace, especially when compared to “aggressive defense spending increases by countries like the United States and Japan.”
The editors also complained that countries like the Philippines and Australia were creating problems for China under the umbrella of the US military. China is currently particularly angry with the Philippines. push back We oppose the Chinese government’s excessive territorial claims in the South China Sea.
A Chinese coast guard vessel uses water cannon on a Philippine coast guard vessel near Philippine-occupied No. 2 Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, August 5, 2023. (Philippine Coast Guard, via AP)
“China’s comprehensive development makes it easier for it to raise military spending more radically, but the fact that China has not done so reflects restraint in setting its defense budget.” Global Times He dismissed all criticism of China’s military buildup as “slander” and “hype.”
According to Chinese “experts”, most of the Chinese government’s military funding is spent on “training missions, development and production of modern weapons, development, support for military reform, and welfare of military personnel.”
Chinese soldiers practice marching in formation ahead of a military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing, China, September 25, 2019. (Naohiko Hatta – Pool/Getty Images)
China’s crisis-hit real estate market remains a potential disaster that could derail GDP growth plans. On Monday, China’s largest insurance company sounded the alarm about yet another debt-laden developer, China Vanke Corporation.
“At least two Beijing-based insurance companies with pension investments told external portfolio managers late last week to closely monitor Vanke’s credit risk,” Bloomberg News report on monday.
The most common are the two real estate companies quoted Equally serious concerns are China Evergrande and Country Garden, both of which have atomic bombs of unpaid debt and falling asset values that could send the entire Chinese economy into a slump.
The Evergrande Group headquarters logo seen in Shenzhen, southern China’s Guangdong province, on September 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
Vanke was China’s second-highest-grossing developer and the last major company on the scale of Evergrande and Country Garden to appear relatively healthy, so the sudden wariness about debt from insurance companies may worry investors. was inevitable.
“Vanke shares fell as much as 4.1% in Hong Kong after falling to a record low on Monday. The 3.975% dollar bill fell 1.7 cents to 46 cents to the dollar, its lowest since October.” Bloomberg reported that the news felt a little inconvenient for the Chinese Communist Party, which is trying to project optimism at the National People’s Congress.
