Chinese Premier Expects Economic Growth by the End of the Year

Chinese Premier Li Qiang confirmed to delegates at the World Economic Forum summit in Tianjin on Tuesday that "China's economic growth in the second quarter will exceed that of the first quarter, and is expected to reach five percent by the end of the year, according to targets." Amid a slowdown in industrial production due to weak external and internal demand, Li Qiang stated: "We will take more practical and effective measures to boost domestic demand, invigorate the market, support coordinated development, and strengthen openness to the outside world." However, analysts have lowered their growth forecasts for China's economy for the remainder of the year. Many major banks have revised down their GDP growth expectations for the world's second-largest economy for 2023, after industrial production and retail sales data for May fell short of expectations. These banks indicated that Beijing would need to take further measures to support the sluggish economic recovery following the Covid pandemic. China's GDP grew by 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of the year, but the momentum has significantly weakened since then. Nevertheless, many analysts expect growth in the second quarter to outperform the same period last year, when the Corona pandemic disrupted economic activity.