Chinese government likely to lower growth target in upcoming NPC in March

The Chinese government is likely to lower or scrape the growth target in 2019, according to market speculations, noted Commerzbank in a research report. While this will be affirmed in the National People’s Congress in early march, some clues might be received from the NPC’s on the provincial-government level.

Media reports show that there were four provinces that have set a range for growth target in 2019, including Beijing where the local government set a 6 percent to 6.5 percent growth target for the coming year, down from 2018’s 6.5 percent.

There are three more provinces that have set a specific growth target for this year, but all lower than that in the prior year.

“That said, China could probably lower the growth target in the upcoming NPC in March, and a target range is also very likely. In fact, the Chinese government did this already in 2016. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said yesterday that the government will take countermeasures to hedge the economic slowdown”, added Commerzbank.

At 13:00 GMT the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of Chinese Yuan was highly bearish at -103.716, while the FxWirePro's Hourly Strength Index of US Dollar was bullish at 78.1645. For more details on FxWirePro's Currency Strength Index, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex