Chinese provinces have stepped down their GDP targets for 2018 following a call by Xi Jinping for local governments to pursue sustainable economic policies over simply higher growth figures, the SCMP reports.
12 provinces have taken such measures, some of which admitting to inflating their GDP data from previous years. Tianjin in Northern China, for example, has set cut its target from 8% to 5%, following the revelation that the city’s celebrated central economic zone had rounded its GDP figure up by a third in 2016.
Another province in the North, Inner Mongolia, also lowered its GDP target by 1% after similar admissions. Fiscal revenue and industrial output were overstated by up to 40%, which, when accounted for, left growth in the region at only 4%, compared to a 7.5% target.
Bu Xiaolin, the governor of Inner Mongolia, has called for a change of emphasis with regards to economic performance metrics in China. “We can’t pursue growth for the sake of growth or investment for the sake of investment,” she said.