More targeted reform and innovation key to China’s economic renewal, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says
But no word of specific policies from closed-door meeting of economists and entrepreneurs
China’s Premier Li Keqiang has called for more targeted economic policies and measures to cope with structural changes in the world’s second-largest economy.
His comments come after China reported growth of 6.9 per cent in 2017, compared with its target of about 6.5 per cent.
The economy beat the government’s expectations, reflecting quantitative expansion as well as an improvement in the quality of growth, Li told economic experts and entrepreneurs in a closed-door meeting on Monday.
A statement on the meeting, published by the central government on its website late on Tuesday, did not include any specifics on how policy might be changed.
In recent years, China has been cutting excess capacity in heavy industries as part of its so-called supply-side reforms while pushing for new growth drivers, such as technology, and moving up the value chain.
But policymakers walk a fine line as they close polluting and idle factories without causing massive unemployment and stunting local economies.