Thaindian News

Beijing, March 14 (IANS) Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao Monday said an annual growth rate of seven percent during the current five-year plan will not be easy, and pointed out that corruption still remains the biggest threat to the country, Xinhua reported.

Given China’s increasingly large economic aggregate and the need to raise the quality and efficiency of its growth, “a seven-percent growth rate is not a low target”, Wen said at a press conference after the conclusion of the annual parliamentary session.

China lowered its annual economic growth target to seven percent for the 2011-2015 period from the 7.5 percent in the previous five-year plans.

“The lowering of the target not only demonstrates the government’s determination but also indicates a major move to transform the country’s economic growth pattern,” Wen said.

“We should make full use of this opportunity to adjust the economic growth pattern and address the unbalanced, uncoordinated or unsustainable factors that have existed in China’s economy for a long time,” he said.

He added that China must strike a balance between economic growth speed, job creation and inflation control.

“A fast growth speed would bring more jobs but lead to high inflationary pressure, a slower speed means less new jobs and risks economic recession,” he added.

With the economy expected to grow slower during the 2011-2015 period, the Chinese government will make every effort to cope with the rising employment pressure, Wen said.

The government must pay close attention to economic restructuring, and give priority to developing small and medium-sized enterprises, especially small hi-tech firms, and developing the service sector, including producer services, which would help create more jobs, said Wen.