China to ensure quality, steady growth: gov’t report

  BEIJING, (Xinhua) — China will work to ensure quality and steady economic growth in the second half of 2013 by boosting demand, industrial upgrading and reforms, according to a government report.

According to the State Council’s report on the implementation of China’s economic and social development plan, to improve the quality and efficiency of the country’s economic development will remain a “central task” in the second half of the year.

China will maintain the consistency and stability of its macroeconomic policies and continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy, the report says.

The report was delivered to a plenary meeting of the National People’s Congress(NPC) Standing Committee Wednesday. Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, attended the meeting.

China’s economic growth, which was boosted by strong domestic demand in the first six months of the year, was higher than expected, said Xu Shaoshi, who delivered the report on behalf of the State Council on Wednesday.

China’s economic growth hit 7.6 percent in the first six months, higher than the 7.5 percent target, said Xu, who is the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner.

He said the government’s annual economic growth target of 7.5 percent this year can be achieved through hard work.

When briefing about the country’s other economic achievements this year, the official said China saw a “moderate and controllable” rise in the consumer price index (CPI), a main measure of inflation, and the job market was “generally stable.”

 Sh.Kh