2013 GDP target likely to be set at 7.5 pct

The first annual economic work conference of the new Communist Party leadership will set the economic growth target for 2013 at 7.5 percent, China Business News reported on Monday.

Citing an anonymous source, the newspaper said the meeting, which is expected to be held in December, is likely to set the annual gross domestic product growth target for the next year at 7.5 percent, the same as this year's target.

The CPC Central Committee holds the economic work conference at the end of every year. It sets the tone for the next year's economic priorities and policy.

Setting the target at 7.5 percent will maintain the continuity of the economic policy and is consistent with the target in the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) and the report of the 18th Communist Party Congress, a person close to the policymaking circle told the newspaper.

The 12th Five-Year Plan set the annual GDP growth in the five-year period at 7 percent. The report of the 18th Communist Party Congress promised to double China's GDP by 2020.

Lu Ting, chief economist of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Greater China division, said: "Setting the 2013 GDP target at 7.5 percent instead of 7 percent is conducive to the strengthening of market confidence. And, given that the radix of the 2012's GDP is low, it is very likely that GDP growth in 2012 will surpass 8 percent."