What government work report reveals about China's future development

China aims to achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of around 5 percent in 2024, according to a government work report submitted on Tuesday to the national legislature for deliberation.

Analysts say the GDP growth goal fits the country's needs. "We need a certain amount of growth rate to ensure employment and prevent economic risks," said Wu Sa, deputy director of the Economic Research Institute at China's Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

Einar Tangen, a senior fellow at the Taihe Institute, told CGTN that the target shows China's confidence in its economic development and sends a positive signal.

It was also announced in the report that China will issue ultra-long special treasury bonds over the next several years, starting with 1 trillion yuan (around $138.9 billion) of such bonds this year.

Dong Yu, executive vice-president of the China Institute for Development Planning at Tsinghua University, noted that the bonds will be used to support the implementation of major national strategies and the building of security capacity in key areas, both of which are aimed at the longer term and are closely linked to the task of Chinese modernization.

"China has a rather plentiful and flexible set of policy tools to maintain stable economic growth and cope with external headwinds," said Zhuang Yumin, dean of the School of Finance with Renmin University of China, citing the country's introduction of structural monetary and fiscal tools to offer targeted support for specific fields.

Wu told China Media Group (CMG) that areas in urgent need of medium- and long-term investment in the future include new urbanization and rural revitalization, education, food security and energy security. These areas will enjoy economic and social benefits from the bond for a long period of time as the issuance cycle is relatively long, he said.

Attracting more foreign investment

Attracting more foreign investment is another major goal of the country. According to the report, all market access restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing will be abolished, and market access restrictions in services sectors, such as telecommunications and healthcare, will be reduced.

To pursue higher-standard opening up and promote mutual benefits, the country will promote alignment with high-standard international economic and trade rules, and steadily expand institutional opening up, according to the report.

Dong pointed out the importance of foreign capital in China's manufacturing industry. Foreign investment can effectively improve the capacity of the manufacturing industry, foster better integration between China's manufacturing capacity and foreign markets and advanced management experience, he said.

(Cover: Skyline of Beijing, China. /CFP)