National People’s Congress: China sets ambitious 2024 economic target

China is targeting around 5% economic growth for this year, as they set out a series of measures aimed at boosting their economy.

Premier Li Qiang announced the plans at the opening of the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) on Tuesday.

He acknowledged that China’s economic performance had faced “difficulties” and they had not yet resolved those – as the once-booming economy has started to struggle.

“Risks and potential dangers in real estate, local government debt, and small and medium financial institutions were acute in some areas,” he said. “Under these circumstances, we faced considerably more dilemmas in making policy decisions and doing our work.”

A series of other measures to help tackle the economic woes were also announced, including the development of new initiatives to tackle problems in the country’s crisis-hit property sector.

Beijing has also set the target to add 12 million jobs in urban areas.

Research will be stepped up in new technologies, including AI and life sciences. Defence spending will also increase by 7.2% this year.