China's economy expected to grow 5.3per cent in 2022, says govt think tank

CHINA - BEIJING. China's economy is expected to grow around 5.3per cent in 2022, bringing the average annual growth rate forecast for 2020-2022 to 5.2per cent, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a top government think tank, said on Monday.

Advisers to the government will recommend that authorities set a 2022 economic growth target lower than the target set for 2021 of "above 6per cent", Reuters reported, amid growing headwinds from a property downturn, weakening exports and strict COVID-19 curbs that have impeded consumption.

The world's second-largest economy is expected to have expanded by about 8per cent this year, according to the annual blue book on the economy from CASS. 

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The think tank warned that the property downturn was likely to persist and weigh on the expenditures of local governments next year.

It urged the central government to proactively engineer a soft landing for the property sector, to avoid failed land auctions in big cities and to fend off risks of quickly falling property prices in smaller cities, the report said.