8 takeaways from Premier Li Qiang’s work report at China’s ‘two sessions’

China has set a GDP growth target of around 5 per cent for this year as it grapples with a trade war with the US.

At the Wednesday opening of the annual meeting of China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress, Premier Li Qiang said all parties should work hard to achieve the “very challenging” goal, given an “increasingly complex” external environment.

1. Fiscal spending expansion

To pump up the economy, China will issue a total of 1.3 trillion yuan (about US$182 billion) of ultra-long special treasury bonds this year, up 300 billion yuan from last year, according to a government work report submitted Wednesday to the top legislature for deliberation.

China has set its deficit-to-GDP ratio for this year at around 4 per cent, an increase of one percentage point over last year.

2. Foreign investment encouraged

Li said that no matter how the external environment changed, China would persistently stick to its opening-up policy, which would lead to more reforms and development opportunities.