At the Two Sessions, China unveiled the economic growth target for 2022 citing the pressures of shrinking demand and weaker expectations. But economists like Professor Yu Miaojie of Peking University are more optimistic of how the country will chart its course this year. Gao Ang has more.   

GAO ANG CGTN Reporter "China has set the GDP growth target at 5.5 percent for this year. What are some considerations behind it?"  

PROFESSOR YU MIAOJIE then Deputy Dean, National School of Development, Peking University "To me, I think that this is the minimum not the maximum. Why is that? Because suppose we think about last year. Last year, the GDP growth rate was set at 6 percent, but eventually we got 8.1 percent. So I think compared to last year, this year, Chinese economy is almost identical to last year. Certainly we also face some negative shock, particularly from the domestic and also internationally, and also say from the demand side and the supply side. But overall, I think that this year, the economy situation more or less is close to last year. I would like to say this year, China's economy, the Chinese economy, the real GDP growth rate, would be at 6 percent at the minimum."  

GAO ANG CGTN Reporter "Common prosperity has become one of the major goals for the Chinese economy. What do you think are the short-term and long-term challenges and opportunities for achieving the goal?"  

PROFESSOR YU MIAOJIE Deputy Dean, National School of Development, Peking University "I think the most important points that to keep the balance between the efficiency and equality, the efficiency means that we need to make the cake, the economy cake bigger and bigger. And equality means how to allocate such a cake. And particularly in the short run, I'd like to say is to how to make the cake bigger and bigger. So efficiency will be more important. And particularly the most important thing is how to avoid people in the poverty, they return to the poverty.  

One key thing is that we should guarantee that they have a permanent income, the increase of the permanent income. And so I want to say the challenge in the short one is how to find a way to guarantee the rural development. In the long one, when the cake getting bigger and bigger, the point is how to allocate. Suppose you're trying to allocate it better, then we should have a better taxation system how to make a tax. So particularly is we are talking about individual tax, we need to make some reform on the individual income tax."

March 9, 2022