Workers weld at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

 
China on Saturday set a growth target of around 5.5 percent for its economy in 2022, exceeding market predictions and showcasing the country's top policymakers' confidence in maintaining stable growth in the world's second-largest economy despite downward pressure both at home and abroad. 

Observers noted that the growth target of around 5.5 percent, although below last year's 8.1 percent growth rate, will still likely outpace growth in many other major economies and play a key role in promoting the global recovery amid a lingering pandemic, the Ukraine situation and mounting domestic pressure.

The annual official growth target was revealed by Premier Li Keqiang in the Government Work Report that was delivered to the opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, on Saturday morning.

The NPC session and the ongoing annual meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the top political advisory body, are collectively known as the two sessions - one of the most important political events in the country each year that offers a window into China's policy priorities for the year. 

China's major targets in 2022

China sets 2022 GDP growth target at around 5.5 pct

The Government Work Report also set a slew of economic and social development goals for 2022, including creating more than 11 million new jobs and keeping CPI growth at around 3 percent.

One of the most closely-watched items on the agenda during the two sessions is how China sets its official GDP growth target for 2022, as the world's second-largest economy has been driving and leading the development of global growth amid headwinds and under the shadow of the pandemic.

Given China's economic size and the global situation, an annual growth rate of around 5.5 percent, is reasonable and leaves room for higher growth, Tian Yun, former vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times.

Besides external factors, observers said the target also reflects that top policymakers are fully aware of the difficulties faced by the Chinese economy - as Chinese authorities have warned several times about the "triple pressure" for the economy over the past several months, namely shrinking demand, supply shocks and weakening expectations.

"The impact does exist, but as a major economy, China has a huge economic size and many policy tools. Government measures are effective and policies are flexible. Even if there are external shocks, we can maintain independent macroeconomic policies," Yu Yongding, former president of the China Society of World Economics and director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

Another closely-watched data is China's deficit-to-GDP ratio, which was set at around  2.8 percent for 2022, according to the Government Work Report.

Analysts said that in general, China's deficit-to-GDP ratio still has room to grow and is not high compared with Western economies, predicting the central government will take more fiscal moves, including launching more tax and fee cuts for small and medium enterprises, to tackle downward pressure.