China was the lone significant economy to fill in 2020 – despite the pandemic. This year the country wants to become even stronger and more independent from other countries.
The Chinese leadership has set itself to achieve economic growth of “more than six” percent in 2021. This goal will enable “all our energies to be devoted to reforms and innovations,” said Prime Minister Li Keqiang in his report on the National People’s Congress’s annual session. Li opened the meeting of around 3,000 MPs, which will last a week.
With a plus of 2.3 percent, China is the only significant economy worldwide that closed 2020 with economic growth. In Germany, for example, the gross domestic product (GDP) collapsed by five percent. For the People’s Republic, 2.3 percent was nevertheless the weakest growth in decades. In 2019, the increase was 6.1 percent. The country is now aiming to create more than 11 million new jobs in cities. In line with the recovering economy, China seeks to hit a budget deficit of around 3.2 percent of GDP in 2021, less than the 2020 target of over 3.6 percent.
China also wants to become economically more independent from abroad and focus more on the domestic market. Also, more should be invested in innovation and technology. As part of the government’s latest five-year plan, the strategy is to “expand domestic demand, intensify structural reforms on the supply side and generate new demand with innovation-driven development and high-quality offers”.