Beijing will keep its macroeconomic policies in place and accept lower growth so long as jobs and household income are stable, Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.
He told the Special Virtual Dialogue with Global Business Leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum that “painstaking” efforts were needed to stabilise China’s overall economic performance.
“As long as employment is relatively sufficient, household income grows and prices are stable, slightly higher or lower growth rates are both acceptable,” Li said, without saying whether he was referring to quarterly or yearly economic growth.
The country would keep macro policies consistent and targeted, he said. The government has a full-year economic growth target of around 5.5%.
For the first half of 2022, expansion was just 2.5% from a year earlier. Growth slowed sharply in the second quarter to 0.4% from a year earlier due to the toll from widespread Covid-19 lockdowns.
Youth unemployment climbed to a record of 19.3% last month, although some data from industrial production to retail sales showed signs of improvement in June.
Full or partial lockdowns were imposed in Chinese cities in March and April, including Shanghai. While many of those curbs have since been lifted, and June data offered signs of respite, analysts do not expect a rapid economic recovery.
China is adamant that it will stick to its tough zero-Covid policy amid fresh flare-ups, while the country’s property market is entrenched in a deep slump and the global outlook remains uncertain.
- Reuters, with additional editing by George Russell
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