China’s economic, social development under 14th 5-year plan on track despite ‘extremely unusual’ time

China's primary economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has issued an optimistic statement regarding China's growth potential. This comes in the wake of an evaluation of a crucial economic blueprint amid increasing demands to elevate growth expectations. The world's second-largest economy has progressed as anticipated in most areas outlined in its 14th five-year plan, which covers economic and social development from 2021 to 2025.

Despite numerous challenges, including technological bottlenecks, 16 of the 20 major objectives included in the plan are within expectation or surpassing predictions, according to NDRC head Zheng Shanjie. He described the past couple of years as 'extremely unusual', but stated that China has 'basically met expectations' in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) growth and residents' income, despite Western-led containment efforts and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, goals related to energy consumption, carbon emission, air quality, and childcare services, which are crucial for China's green transition and efforts to counter demographic challenges, are lagging behind. Investor and consumer confidence has remained low amid an uneven economic recovery following reopening, primarily due to a struggling property sector and subdued external demand. Despite these challenges, China is expected to meet its 2023 GDP growth goal of 'around 5 per cent'.