The eastern city of Ningbo, which has the world’s busiest seaport, set an economic growth target of around 6 per cent for 2024 during the annual session of its People’s Congress.
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China GDP: Beijing’s long to-do list to boost its economy in 2024
China GDP: Beijing’s long to-do list to boost its economy in 2024
Hefei, another city in eastern China, set a growth target of around 6 per cent. It is aiming to establish itself as China’s answer to the so-called Motor City of Detroit in the United States as it is home to Volkswagen, Nio and BYD research centres.
Changzhou, a manufacturing powerhouse in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, set a target of above 6 per cent. It is home to a subsidiary of Contemporary Amperex Technology, better known as CATL, which is the world’s top battery maker.
Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province, and Guangzhou, the capital of the southern province of Guangdong, fixed their targets at above 5 per cent.
China’s official 2024 growth targets, including for GDP, deficit ratio, local bond quota and inflation, are expected to be released in Premier Li Qiang’s government work report delivered to the National People’s Congress in early March.
Policies in 2024 will be cautiously expansionary as the government seems to be rather satisfied with the current growth rate.
Amid mounting domestic and international headwinds, the central government has ordered economic powerhouses to shoulder a greater responsibility for driving up the economy.
“With a diminishing cyclical momentum and cautious sentiment, China’s economy will grow at 4.5 per cent in 2024,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist with Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking.
“Any upsides towards 5 per cent will depend on how accommodative monetary and fiscal policy can be.
“Policies in 2024 will be cautiously expansionary as the government seems to be rather satisfied with the current growth rate.”
However, the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office on Thursday made a “relatively optimistic forecast” of 5.3 per cent for China’s GDP growth in 2024.
“The real estate drag has diminished over time and we anticipate this year that the drag will be even smaller, even flat,” the chief economist of the Singapore-based economic surveillance group, Hoe Ee Khor, told an online conference.
He added that infrastructure, manufacturing and tech investment could be the main driver for China’s GDP growth this year.
However, should China suffer from weaker-than-expected growth, there could be a “big spillover” for Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, Khor warned.
Major investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, UBS, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan, have estimated China’s economy would grow by between 4.2 to 4.9 per cent in 2024.
Additional reporting by Ralph Jennings
