China’s “Two Sessions” gathering for 2024 commenced on March 5, with the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC) meetings marking both the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and the penultimate year of the current Five-Year Plan (FYP) period.
The government work report, delivered by Premier Li Qiang, reviewed the government’s development goals and tasks in 2023, confirmed the overall requirements and policy orientation for economic and social development in 2024, and set out major tasks for 2024, including a GDP growth target.
The work report emphasizes the centrality of stability both in the policy orientation and the development targets, citing the general principles of “pursuing progress while ensuring stability” and “promoting stability through progress” in ensuring stable expectations, growth and employment. The overall requirements and policy orientation also highlight the importance of deepening reform and opening up, expanding domestic demand, promoting new urbanization, and preventing and defusing economic structural risks.
The main targets for development in 2024 are set out as:
- GDP growth of around 5%
- Over 12 million new urban jobs
- Surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5%
- CPI increase of around 3%
- Growth in personal income in step with economic growth
- A basic equilibrium in the balance of payments
- Grain output of over 650 million metric tons
- A drop of around 2.5% in energy consumption per unit of GDP
- Continued improvements in the environment
We anticipate that the objectives stated in the government work report will have both direct and indirect beneficial effects for China’s real estate market. In this summary report we highlight specific major tasks and related commitments for 2024 and investigate the impacts for the real estate industry, with translated excerpts from the full text of Premier Li’s speech as published in the Report on the Work of the Government.
