Economic recovery tipped to continue this year
China DailyNation places significant emphasis on maintaining reasonable GDP growth rate At first glance, the situation faced by China's economy may not appear to offer hope for a strong recovery. The policy stance of stepping up growth stabilization efforts, coupled with the unfolding recovery momentum and ongoing efforts to resolve financial risks associated with the real estate sector and local government debt issues, have laid the foundation for China's economic performance to improve in 2024, Zhang said. Focus on property In the first 11 months of last year, China's total fixed-asset investment in real estate development fell by 9.4 percent year-on-year, while the total area of properties sold declined by 8 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said the nation may set this year's budgeted deficit-to-GDP ratio at about 3.5 percent, and this figure could be raised further if economic growth misses expectations. With the economy expected to further normalize this year, Wen said China's annual consumer price index growth may recover to 1 percent, up from an estimated 0.2 percent last year, as spending strengthens, global commodity prices increase, and domestic food prices edge up.