No Annual Growth Target For China

China's communist rulers avoided setting an annual growth target for the first time in decades, as they struggle to deal with the "immense" economic challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The government usually sets economic growth targets that it regularly exceeds. But this year, given "great uncertainty" caused by the pandemic, Beijing will not set a target but "give priority to stabilising employment and ensuring living standards", Premier Li Keqiang told the opening of the National People's Congress. Before the pandemic, Beijing was widely expected to announce a growth target of around six percent this year. But with the COVID-19 shock causing economic growth to shrink 6.8 percent in the first quarter, such a target was seen as no longer feasible.