China sets 2018 GDP target at 'around 6.5%'
China set its 2018 economic growth target at "around 6.5 percent" on Monday, in line with expectations but lower than the 6.9 percent output registered last year.
The target, which is the same as last year, was presented in a report for Monday's opening session of the annual National People's Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament.
The figure, along with an inflation target of three percent, is "fitting given the fact that China's economy is transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development", the report said.
China beat forecasts in 2017 as the world's second grew by 6.9 percent, picking up steam for the first time since 2010 despite a battle against massive debt and polluting factories.
Beijing has largely relied on debt-fuelled investment and exports to drive its tremendous economic growth of the past four decades but it is now seeking to move its economy to more sustainable consumption-based growth.