Xi Jinping has pledged that China will meet its ambitious GDP growth target of 5 per cent this year and remain the engine of global economic expansion as Beijing steps up efforts to boost flagging investor confidence.
The Chinese president’s comments came a day after the country’s leaders eased their monetary policy stance for the first time in 14 years in a bid to tackle entrenched weak consumption and deflationary pressures in the world’s second-largest economy.
Chinese stocks initially rose on Tuesday on news of the Communist party politburo’s backing for more monetary easing — the strongest sign yet of its resolve to implement a more accommodative policy stance. The CSI 300 index rose as much as 3.3 per cent at the open before paring gains to close up 0.7 per cent.