Local governments strive to meet annual growth target

Since mid-November, local governments have held intensive economic conferences to promote growth, as targeting the annual growth goal became the most urgent task in all regions, Economic Information Daily reported.

In the third quarter, among the 31 provinces, the economic growth rate of nine provinces increased slightly compared with the first half of the year. Four provinces stayed flat, while 18 provinces saw a decline.

“There should be no suspense in achieving the 6.5% growth target for 2018,” said Zhang Jun, chief economist at Morgan Stanley.

Zhang said at present, local governments are still actively promoting infrastructure projects, which aim to lay the foundation for future economic growth.

Also, the looming issue for next year is to prevent the rebound of the local government debt, to avoid blind investment in infrastructure and to focus on improving the efficiency of investment.