Premier urges raising growth confidence

Premier Li Qiang called for boosting confidence in China's growth as the country's economy showed signs of recovery and improvement despite complex global political and economic situations.

Li made the remarks on Thursday while chairing a symposium on China's economy, which was attended by Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang and Chinese experts and scholars.

The experts and scholars unanimously agreed that despite the complex and challenging external environment, China's economy has shown tremendous resilience, and confidence should be maintained in the country's economic prospects. They presented suggestions and recommendations for promoting economic growth.

Addressing the meeting, Li said the complicated global political and economic situations have impacted China's development, and called for a comprehensive, balanced and long-term assessment of the nation's current economic situation and further boosting confidence in its development.

China is going through a critical phase in its economic recovery and industrial upgrading, Li said, emphasizing that the principle of seeking progress while ensuring stability should be upheld. He urged fully, faithfully and comprehensively implementing the new development philosophy and speeding up the building of a new development paradigm.

Efforts should be made to stabilize growth and employment, and prevent risks by implementing a set of targeted, combined and coordinated policies and measures, he said.

Prioritizing high-quality development, Li said, more measures should be taken to transform development patterns, adjust economic structure and increase growth drivers.

He urged efforts to establish and improve regular communication and exchange mechanisms between the government and various enterprises, including private and foreign-funded ones, in order to improve the scientific decision-making process through enhanced interactions.

Li expressed hope that experts and scholars would leverage their professional wisdom and strengths to contribute constructive suggestions and recommendations to promote high-quality development.

China's economy grew 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter. Addressing the opening of the 2023 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin on June 27, Li said the second quarter's growth is expected to be faster and the target of around 5 percent for the whole year is expected to be met.

Some international organizations and institutions have raised their growth expectations for China, demonstrating their confidence in the nation's development prospects.

In April, the International Monetary Fund projected that China's economy will grow 5.2 percent in 2023, while global growth is estimated at 2.8 percent.