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11/22/2024 02:25:47 pm

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China Likely to Trim Economic Growth Targets for 2015

China Economy

A clerk counts Chinese 100 yuan banknotes at a branch of China Construction Bank in Nantong, Jiangsu province December 2, 2014.REUTERS/China Daily

Economists closely monitoring China's gross domestic products (GDP), a measure of the economic health of the country, said the central government will likely cut its growth projections for 2015.

The trimming of growth projections for next year is expected to be tackled during the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference, which is usually held in the first week of December, analysts said.

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The Central Economic Work Conference is a closely watched annual meeting because it tackles the economic directions of the country and the reforms that will be instituted in the coming year.

The lowering of growth projections for 2015 from 7.5 percent to 7.0 percent, however, does not mean that China's prospects are negative but indicates the central government's willingness to trade short-term growth for reforms.

Song Yu, a China economist for Goldman Sachs Group, said the lower growth projections will allow China to shift its economic forecasts from quantity to quality projections.

"We expect the conference to lower the GDP target for next year to 7 percent, which we think is appropriate. It is acceptable to even reduce it below 7 percent," Song told reports in a news conference in Beijing.

Goldman Sachs forecast that the country will be able to maintain 7 percent growth next year. But the days of double-digit growth are over, and China will likely post an average growth rate of only 6.5 percent in the next five years, it said.

In the third quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said China's economic growth slowed to 7.3 percent compared with the 7.5 percent growth registered in the second quarter and 7.4 percent in the first quarter.

The third quarter economic growth was the slowest since the first quarter of 2009 and was expected by economists and analysts.

However, the NBS said the economic growth in the July-September period was still within the "reasonable range" set by China's policymakers. 

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