Chinese premier lowers economic growth target to 6.5pc but confident goals for wide prosperity by 2020 will be met

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang unveiled a 6.5 per cent annualised economic growth target for the next five years on Sunday, while soothing global investors’ concerns about a slowing Chinese economy.

Addressing South Korean business leaders in Seoul, the premier said China would aim for lower growth in its gross domestic product but would still meet its target of creating a “moderately prosperous” society by 2020.

“In terms of GDP, we need to maintain year-on-year growth of at least 6.5 per cent to meet the goal,” he said, adding that concerns about downward momentum in China’s economy were excessive.

“China’s slowdown is at a gradual pace,” Li said. “The growth slowed from 8 per cent, to 7.7 per cent, 7.4 per cent or about 7 per cent. But the economic output was still increasing at an orderly pace.”

China’s third-quarter GDP expanded 6.9 per cent from a year ago, the slowest since the first three months of 2009.

It also failed to meet the nation’s 7 per cent growth target, heightening expectations that Beijing would lower the target in the 13th five-year plan for the period 2016-2020, a major policy blueprint.