China says stability, ‘deepened reform’ are crucial for economic growth

Party mouthpiece doubles down on positive message and confidence in achieving China’s GDP growth goal for 2024

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A fresh People’s Daily editorial stresses the importance of implementing economic policies that benefit the people, boost consumption and steady the property market. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:30pm, 12 Nov 2024Updated: 3:44pm, 12 Nov 2024

A People’s Daily editorial published on Tuesday has highlighted the strengthening confidence in meeting China’s economic target of “around 5 per cent” this year, marking the second day in a row that the party mouthpiece put out such a positive message.

Quoting President Xi Jinping during his recent trip to Hubei province, the editorial said that, with less than two months left in the year, “all kinds of work – especially the economy – needs further attention to meet the annual target”.

China’s economy from July to September saw its lowest quarterly growth since the middle of last year, with just a 4.6 per cent year-on-year rise. But Beijing remains hopeful that recent stimulus measures will help elevate the economy.

The latest editorial emphasised that the two key pillars for China’s economic growth were “stability” and “advancement”, alongside policies that were aimed at benefiting ordinary people, boosting consumption and steadying the property market.

After the official figures for the third quarter were released, the editorial said that “a number of foreign institutions” had raised their growth forecasts on China, with Goldman Sachs increasing the country’s 2024 GDP growth estimation from 4.7 to 4.9 per cent.

To buttress new drivers of economic growth, the editorial also mentioned that there should be “deepened reform” to support the expansion of “new quality productive forces”.