As China drafts its next 5-year plan, is GDP still the magic number?
With the fourth plenum set to outline China’s long-term plans, analysts consider more benchmarks than GDP for ‘high-quality development’ era
For decades, the annual target for gross domestic product growth was the most critical policymaking benchmark across China.
In pursuit of that all-important figure, officials around the country embarked on a spree of infrastructure investment, industrial expansion and resource mobilisation that helped make China the world’s second-largest economy and lift 800 million people out of poverty.
And with the members of the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee meeting this week to draw up an outline for the 15th five-year plan – China’s development blueprint for the rest of the decade – perspectives may shift further.
That plan was released in early 2021, when the global economy was still grappling with the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic. But many analysts say maintaining a certain growth rate remains crucial for the country, even if some focus has moved from the number itself to how it is achieved.