China: the two sessions of 2022
Photo: 10 marzo 2022 - Xinhua/Ju Peng
The plenary meetings of the XIII National People's Congress and Chinese People's Consultative Conference (the "two sessions") were held in Beijing from 4 to 11 March 2022.
On this occasion, the target of GDP growth for 2022 at about 5.5% was announced. This value is the lowest since 1991, although higher than the growth estimates forecast by the International Monetary Fund for China of 4.8%. A growth target was not set in 2020 due to pandemic-related uncertainty, but in 2021 China exceeded growth expectations by 6%, recording an 8.1% increase in GDP.
The less than optimistic estimates for 2022 are due to the changed geopolitical framework linked to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and to the persistence of the Covid-19 pandemic, which in China is affecting mainly Hong Kong.
The Chinese government has expressed its intention to increase military spending, adopt an expansive fiscal policy and policies to support education, health and employment (with particular attention to winter sports) to promote internal stability and the growth of domestic consumption and set up a public fund for financial stability on the European model of the Single Resolution Fund and the European Stability Mechanism.
During the press conference at the end of the "two sessions", Prime Minister Li Keqiang finally confirmed that China's policy of opening up to the world will not change, also hoping for a relaxation of relations between the US and China which "should not close the door opened years ago (1972) with the visit of US President Richard Nixon to the People's Republic of China ”.
Press Council
Silk Council