By Aidoghie Paulinus
In its latest government work report, China has set an economic growth target of around five percent for 2025, a figure officials describe as a pragmatic balance between domestic realities and global uncertainties.
Head of the group responsible for drafting the 2025 government work report and Director of the Research Office of China’s State Council, Shen Danyang, noted that the target was calibrated to China’s actual conditions and the laws governing economic development after thorough research and deliberation.
Shen also said from an objective perspective, a five percent growth rate is essential, not only for stabilizing employment and mitigating risks, but also for improving livelihoods and enhancing China’s international competitiveness.
Also speaking, a National Political Advisor from the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Huang Qunhui, said: “Without a certain growth rate, efforts to expand employment, curb risks, and raise incomes would lack a material foundation.”
Huang added that the target dovetailed with China’s recent economic trends and its longer-term goal of basically realizing socialist modernization by 2035.
The Director of the Industrial Economy Research Office at the State Information Center’s Department of Economic Forecasting, which is part of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Wei Qijia, stated that the target signals China’s determination to overcome current challenges and sustain progress.
China’s economic scale remains formidable. In 2024, the country’s GDP surpassed 130 trillion yuan ($17.97 trillion). The country has long been a vital engine of global growth, contributing about 30 percent to worldwide economic expansion.