China's leaders pledged to continue to implement macroeconomic controls next year to achieve stable but rapid growth. At the end of a three-day annual Central Economic Work Conference Thursday, the leaders put forward eight main tasks for the government's economic work programme next year but did not specify any important economic targets, the South China Morning Post reported. However, Zheng Xinli , an economist at the Communist Party's Central Committee policy research office, said the meeting had set an 8% economic growth target for next year, a moderate slowdown after four consecutive years of double-digit expansion. According to a statement quoted by China Central Television, the government would also make further efforts to build a harmonious socialist society by restructuring the economy and transforming modes of growth. It would also promote energy and resource conservation and environmental protection.