Advisers to Beijing on Dec.6 recommended a 2022 growth target that is lower than the target set for 2021 due to the persistent COVID-19 cases and the slowdown in the property sector.
The world’s second-largest economy is likely to grow around 5.3 percent in 2022, according to an annual blue book issued by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences at the briefing, although the report cautioned that the forecast could be adjusted down depending on the COVID-19 situation.
Advisers to the state will recommend that local administrations set a 2022 gross domestic product target lower than the target set for 2021 of “above 6 percent,” Reuters reported, amid growing headwinds from a property downturn, weakening exports, and strict COVID-19 curbs that have impeded consumption.
The thinktank warned that the property downturn was likely to persist and weigh on the expenditures of local governing bodies next year.
It urged Beijing to proactively engineer a soft landing for the property sector, to avoid failed land auctions in big cities, and to fend off risks of quickly falling property prices in smaller cities, the report said.
Evergrande, a real estate giant grappling with over $300 billion in liabilities, teeters on the brink of the country’s biggest ever default on Monday .
