China economic growth target set below 5% for the first time at key meeting
Al Jazeera
The National People’s Congress set a GDP target of 4.5 to 5 percent for 2026 as China grapples with economic slowdown.
Thousands of Chinese officials have gathered in Beijing for the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), where delegates are approving the country’s economic and political roadmap for the next five years.
China has set a target of 4.5 to 5 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2026, according to a government report reviewed by the state’s official Xinhua News Agency on Thursday, down from a recent target of “around 5 percent”.
The lowered growth figure reflects China’s economic slowdown, triggered in part by the collapse of the country’s property sector, which once accounted for between 25 and 30 percent of GDP.
“The growth target is quite realistic,” the Economist Intelligence Unit’s China economist Tianchen Xu said, noting the figure reflected China’s trend towards more conservative expectations.
“It’s a further shift from a ‘number-first’ mindset towards a ‘quality-first’ one,” Xu told the Reuters news agency.
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