BEIJING (AP) – Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivered his annual address before China’s parliament on Saturday, laying out the government’s development agenda for the next five years and covering a broad variety of topics ranging from boosting the Internet industry and urban employment to cutting steel production and carbon emissions.
As a high-level blueprint, Li’s work report did not go into policy details, but it did signal what China’s leaders are prioritizing – and what they would rather play down – as they manage a sharp slowdown in the world’s No. 2 economy and seek new sources of growth.
The main takeaways:
GROWTH AND URBANIZATION
Li, China’s top economic official, unveiled a slightly lower GDP growth target of between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016, down from 7 percent, as he reassured the world that Beijing can manage a smooth economic slowdown – and avoid freefall. A key factor will be keeping the urban unemployment rate below 4.5 percent and creating at least 10 million new urban jobs, Li said, giving the same targets as in 2015. But those numbers will get harder to meet as jobs in coastal cities continue to dry up and giant, struggling state companies cut jobs. “China will face more and tougher problems and challenges in its development this year,” Li warned.