Xi Jinping sets 6.5% as five-year floor for China's headline growth

President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China’s annual growth must not fall below 6.5% in the next five years in order to successfully double gross domestic product and average income from 2010 to 2020, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing state media. The comments made clear that China will continue to focus on headline growth, and while economists expect Beijing to cut its five-year growth goal to 6.5% when the latest five-year plan is approved in March, many suspect China’s real economy has already slipped below that level. Even the International Monetary Fund, which tends to be more optimistic than private economists, projects growth of 6.3% next year.