"More than six percent": China has set itself an ambitious growth target

Friday, March 5th, 2021

"More than six percent"
China is setting itself an ambitious growth target

The National People's Congress holds its annual session in Beijing to discuss China's goals for 2021. Economically, the country is aiming for growth of more than six percent. In addition, armaments spending is expected to rise.

At the start of the annual session of the National People's Congress in Beijing, the Chinese leadership has targeted economic growth of "more than six percent" for the current year. "A target of more than six percent will enable all of us to devote all of our energy to reforms and innovations," said Prime Minister Li Keqiang's report. With his speech, Li opened the meeting of around 3,000 MPs, which will last a week.

With a plus of 2.3 percent, China is the only major economy worldwide that closed 2020 with economic growth. In Germany, for example, the gross domestic product (GDP) collapsed by five percent. For the People's Republic, however, 2.3 percent was the weakest growth in decades. In 2019, the increase was 6.1 percent.

The Chinese Ministry of Finance also announced a 6.8 percent increase in defense spending for 2021. In the previous year, Beijing had increased its arms budget by 6.6 percent. The government plans to spend the equivalent of around 176 billion euros on armaments. This puts China in second place in the world behind the USA, which is investing around three times as much in its armed forces.

A reform of the electoral law in Hong Kong is expected at the Beijing Congress to extend control over the Special Administrative Region. In addition, a temporary ban on the consumption of most wild animals is to be implemented, which was imposed last year due to the corona pandemic. Taken bills are almost always adopted by the People's Congress with an overwhelming majority.