March 16, 2022 | Report
The annual Government Work Report (GWR) (full text in English and Chinese), delivered on March 5 by Premier Li Keqiang as part of the Two Sessions (the annual meeting of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference), is the most important economic policy document of the year. It outlines key economic and social development targets and priorities. Below is a brief roundup of what the 2022 GWR had to say on major topics like GDP growth, housing, consumption, labor, etc.
The ambitious GDP growth target implies more significant pro-growth measures. China’s GDP growth target is set at “around 5.5%” for 2022. This is notably higher than analysist consensus on China’s growth expectation. For example, in January, the IMF 2022 growth forecast for China was 4.8 percent, the World Bank’s was 5.1 percent. If anything, the ongoing Ukraine crisis has weakened the outlook for China. The official GDP target is indicative of Beijing’s determination to stabilize growth this year. The target confirms that more significant pro-growth measures will be rolled out. To support growth, fiscal expenditure, as currently outlined in the GWR, will expand by 12.8 percent in 2022, a rapid acceleration compared with 2021, where it declined by 1 percent (see CICC estimates). Infrastructure investment will need t
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