China’s economic growth target for 2024 is about 5%, on par with last year’s rate

BEIJING (AP) — China’s official growth target for this year is around 5%, Premier Li Qiang said Tuesday in an annual report on the government’s plans and performance that prioritized both security and the economy.

Li said the government would continue with a “pro-active fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy,” suggesting no major change in the leadership’s approach to pursuing what it calls “high quality” development.

He said the government plans to issue 1 trillion yuan (about $139 billion) in “ultralong special treasury bonds” in 2024 and over each of the coming several years — a long hoped-for extra promise of government spending to help support flagging growth.

The government also plans to provide support for local governments facing “economic difficulty,” he said, suggesting that Beijing will limit damage from debts of cash strapped cities and regions that have been rising sharply.

China plans to spend 1.67 trillion yuan ($231 billion) on defense this year, Li said. That’s a rise of 7.2% and matches the pace of increase in 2023.

The ruling Communist Party has been emphasizing the need to raise consumer spending to help drive the economy. But the consumer-led recovery it was counting on after anti-pandemic controls ended in late 2022 faltered midway through last year.

China’s real estate market is in crisis after many developers defaulted on their debts following a crackdown on excess borrowing. Falling housing prices and worries over jobs have left many families either reluctant or unable to spend more.

Last year, the economy grew at a 5.2% pace, but that was after a very slow 3% annual growth rate in 2022, when the country was enduring the worst disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, when many millions of