Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a government work report at the opening meeting of the second session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing on Tuesday, reviewing China's achievements in 2023 and setting targets for 2024.

In 2024, China aims to expand its economy by around 5 percent. The other main targets include creating about 12 million new urban jobs, an average surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5 percent, a grain output of over 650 million tonnes and reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 2.5 percent.

China has set a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3 percent for 2024. It is to issue ultra-long special treasury bonds in years to come. It will also issue 3.9 trillion yuan ($540 billion) in special-purpose bonds for local government. The country will also earmark 700 billion yuan from the central government budget for investment in 2024.

In 2023, China generally recovered and improved the economy, made breakthroughs in core technologies, continued to deepen reform and opening up and boosted people's livelihoods.

Generally improved economy

The country's GDP expanded 5.2 percent to 126 trillion yuan (about $17.5 trillion) last year, ranking China among the fastest-growing major economies in the world.

A total of 12.44 million new urban jobs were created last year, with an average surveyed urban unemployment rate of 5.2 percent.

China's consumer price index rose 0.2 percent in 2023.

Fiscal policies were also stepped up to improve the economy. New tax and fee benefits exceeded 2.2 trillion yuan throughout the year, and an additional 1 trillion yuan in government bonds were issued to support post-disaster recovery and reconstruction.

The country also introduced policies to stimulate the consumption of automobiles, home furnishings, electronic products, tourism, etc. Bulk consumption has steadily rebounded, and consumption of daily services has accelerated recovery.

Breakthroughs in core technologies

China has achieved fruitful results in key core technologies, including great progress in developing high-end equipment, such as aircraft engines, gas turbines and fourth-generation nuclear power units, and innovative achievements in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

Technology contract turnover increased by 28.6 percent.

Deepened reform and opening up

China has deepened reform and opening up across the board and made a continuous improvement in the business environment. The country introduced an overall work plan for building a unified national market.

Exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products grew by nearly 30 percent.

People's lives bettered

China's per capita disposable income increased by 6.1 percent, and the income gap between urban and rural residents continued to narrow. The income of rural residents in poverty-stricken areas increased by 8.4 percent.

Over 33 million people who were lifted out of poverty found jobs. The scale of national student loans was raised, and interest rates were reduced, benefiting more than 11 million students.

The urbanization rate has increased steadily, with approximately 66.2 percent of the total population in China living in cities in 2023.

The digital economy has accelerated development, and the 5G user penetration rate has exceeded 50 percent.

Its grain output in 2023 hit a new record high, reaching 695.4 million tonnes.

(Text by Yao Nian; data edited by Zhao Hong and Sun Yiwen; graphics designed by Yin Yating and Du Chenxin)