China on Monday gave its first official confirmation that the GDP growth target for 2010 will be 8%, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Li Yizhong, minister of industry and information technology, said the country is aiming to expand industrial production by about 11% – down from around 12% this year – in order to help meet this economic growth target. Most economists expect growth come in at close to 9% next year after topping 8% in 2009. The 8% target has been in place for several years and has become largely symbolic. In recent times, the economy has consistently grown at a much faster pace, although 8% was declared the minimum acceptable rate for what started out as a trouble-hit 2009. Li also said that his ministry will try to curb excess production capacity – something which has been a concern for Beijing since July – and encourage consolidation in sectors such as automobiles, shipbuilding and steel.
Categories
