- Overall prices will be basically stable. The CPI will rise by about 3.5%. We have set this target mainly because we have an ample supply of most commodities. In particular, we have abundant grain reserves as grain production increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2012. This provides a good material foundation for keeping overall prices basically stable. However, factors driving prices upward are not easy to overlook. The primary ones include the upward pressure on prices of land, labor, and other factors of production as well as services and agricultural products, and the reassertion of imported inflation all of which is expected to drive prices up about 2 percentage points. The continued impact of last year's CPI increases will contribute 1 percentage point to this year's price rise. We also need to leave some room for promoting resource conservation and environmental protection and for straightening out price relationships among resource products.

- The people's living standards will continue to improve. More than 9 million new urban jobs will be created, and the registered urban unemployment rate will be kept under 4.6%. Real income of urban and rural residents will increase in step with economic development. The social security system will further improve and the level of social security benefits will improve steadily. Social programs will develop faster. The natural population growth rate will be kept under 6.5 per thousand. We will basically complete work on 4.7 million units of government-subsidized housing in urban areas and begin construction on a further 6.3 million units. We will renovate dilapidated houses for over 3 million rural households while ensuring they are of good quality and up to standard.

We have set all these targets mainly because of the following:



If we want to put the people's wellbeing first and ensure that all the people benefit more from the fruits of development in a fair way, then we must adopt a holistic approach and do all we can to effectively ensure and improve the people's wellbeing. However, our economic growth rate will be slower than previous years, and we have to address the problem of overcapacity. This will affect people's employment and income, and greater pressure on government revenue and expenditures will affect funding to programs that benefit the people. We must therefore stress priorities, do only what we are capable of, and do a good job of ensuring and improving the people's wellbeing.

- China's balance of payments will improve. We will strive to increase our total foreign trade volume by around 8%, lower than last year's target, yet higher than last year's real growth. We will accelerate development of trade in services. The structure of foreign investment utilization will further improve, and China's outward investment will increase steadily.

We have set these targets by mainly considering the following:



World economic growth will continue to be slow. Overall demand of major economies will remain weak. All forms of protectionism are clearly reasserting themselves. China's export prospects remain grim. In addition, the world economic structure will continue to change. We must implement a more active opening up strategy and quickly create new competitive advantages to make better use of international and domestic markets and resources, stabilize and expand our share in the international market, and further improve our open economy. (more)

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