China's annual economic growth is likely to exceed the expected target, said Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Tuesday while addressing the 9th Hamburg Summit via a video link.

"Since the beginning of this year, China's economy has continued to recover with employment, prices and international payments maintained at a normal level and its growth is estimated to exceed the expected target," he said.

In March, China set its GDP growth target at over 6 percent for 2021, 3.7 percentage points higher than 2020's GDP growth.

In the first three quarters of this year, the country's GDP grew by 9.8 percent compared with a year earlier, according to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Despite a slowdown in economic growth through the first three quarters of this year, both the International Monetary Fund and Bloomberg have projected the world's second largest economy to see an 8-percent growth in GDP this year.

Liu said that next year, China will maintain the continuity, stability and sustainability of the macro policy, and make more efforts to stimulate the vitality of micro-entities, create good expectations for the market, and create a better environment for small and medium-sized enterprises and foreign-funded enterprises.

"We have full confidence in China's economy next year," he added, pointing out that China is accelerating its new development strategy, the "dual circulation" paradigm. 

The vice premier said China's geographical conditions and resource endowments determine the objective characteristics of China's economic openness, adding that the experience of the past 40 years has made the country realize that the successful development of China's economy must adhere to reform and opening-up. 

"Next year, we will focus on expanding market access and promoting fair competition to create a better business environment," he added.

China and Europe, as driving forces behind the recovery of the world economy, should continue to strengthen pragmatic economic and trade cooperation in the post-epidemic era, jointly promote green and low-carbon transformation, deepen trade and investment cooperation, and maintain a safe and smooth supply chain, Liu said.

(Cover via CFP)