Wang Tao: Takeaways From China’s Government Work Report

As we had expected, China set this year’s GDP growth target of "around 5%" in the Government Work Report at the annual National People’s Congress (NPC) meeting on Sunday.

Consistent with the Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC), the report reiterated this year’s priority of supporting growth amid headwinds from “demand contraction, supply shock, and weak expectations.” The macro policy tones from the report are also in line with the CEWC, with a slightly larger budget deficit and special local government (LG) bond quota than last year.