Next week, just before the year ends, China's top leaders will meet at the Central Economic Work Conference to discuss the economic policies that the country will follow in the year 2025.
While it's an annual event, investors and analysts await the results, considering it will weigh China's leadership, with President Xi Jinping, meeting to deliberate on the country's most crucial fiscal and industrial policies.
The two-day, behind-doors meeting will outline what is in store for China's economic targets, from the country's expected growth in GDP to the measures of stimulus.
Reuters shared that senior leaders and financial regulators will be present in the closed-door conference; even though specific details about the meeting will not be published until a statement is made by the government, the investors are going to pay close attention for any hints or indications of policy directions. Market watchers are keen to know how China will manage its economy next year, as they believe the government will continue policy support to stabilize economic growth. Already, China's stock market reflected optimism in that the CSI 300 index rose 0.3% after investors expected more support from the upcoming discussions.
China's Economic Growth Plans in 2025
Recently, one of the most important issues on the agenda is whether China will keep following its 2024 GDP growth target of around 5% for next year, given the new tensions with the US under President-elect Donald Trump. The renewed tariff threats from the Trump administration are likely to hit trade between the US and China and complicate China's economic outlook further.
Experts have their predictions that China would increase the deficit target to 3.5% to 4% of GDP, thus supporting the economy through more government borrowing.
Since September, Beijing has introduced a series of measures aimed at support, such as cutting interest rates and rolling out a $1.4 trillion program to help the local government with heavy debt. Those measures will hopefully help to achieve this year's growth target, but policymakers have to be flexible and responsive in case of any pressure from the US trade policies.
This conference comes at a time when China's leadership has held a Politburo meeting with no readout, meaning it is intensely focused on this set of discussions, per Yahoo Finance. Many are expecting positive policy decisions from the conference, but there is precedent for the markets being mixed in their reaction once the conference is released to the public.
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