Government lays out economic goals for 2004

The State Council member Ma Kai told the National People's Congress that a minimum economic growth rate of 7% was necessary in order to keep the official urban registered jobless rate under 5%. The official jobless rate is around 4.7%. Ma repeated a government pledge to restrict reckless lending and investment in overheated sectors including automobiles, steel, cement and real estate. Ma also addressed revaluation of China's currency, the renminbi, or yuan, for which he said the government would work to �perfect the exchange mechanism�.