Chinese President Xi Jinping and Other Top Leaders Prepare for Annual Central Economic Work Conference

Forex - Chinese President Xi Jinping and other senior leaders are preparing for the annual central economic work conference, which is reported to take place this week as Beijing attempts to boost growth. While an official date for the two-day meeting has not yet been announced, Bloomberg reported that the closed-door discussions will occur on December 11-12.

According to Goldman Sachs economists, senior policymakers will review this year's economic performance and policy implementations during both meetings and set priorities for the upcoming year. The central government is expected to discuss its 2025 growth target and budget to guide local governments in establishing their own targets ahead of the annual parliamentary session scheduled for early next year.

While specific figures will not be released until March, Beijing is expected to maintain its GDP growth target for next year at "around 5," the same as this year's target, although it might not be significantly lower. "If history serves as a guide, policymakers may keep the 2025 growth target at around 5% without any changes or reduce it to 4%. Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie, also noted that Chinese policymakers have never lowered the target by more than 0.5 percentage points in the past. According to Lynn Song, chief economist at ING, the Chinese government has rarely failed to meet its growth targets, except for two instances in 1990 and 2022 when growth fell significantly below the target.