China poised for 7.5% annual growth: minister

BEIJING - Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Wednesday that China is poised for an annual gross domestic product growth rate of 7.5 percent.

Speaking in Beijing at the ongoing two-day Caijing annual conference, Chen said China's economy has advanced this year despite global economic headwinds, and full-year growth will be consistent with predictions made at the beginning of 2012.

Chen also told the conference that China will implement a more proactive opening-up strategy in the face of grim world economic conditions.

The minister's optimistic view was echoed by Chen Dongqi, deputy director of the institute of macroeconomic research under the National Development and Reform Commission.

The NDRC's Chen predicted the country's GDP will grow by 7.5 percent or more in 2012, and the economic outlook next year will be better.

However, economic uncertainties, largely derived from the "fiscal cliff" in the United States, the European debt crisis and Japan's deepening recession might continue to hamper China's growth in 2013, the researcher added.

Enterprises, according to Chen Dongqi, are also facing operational difficulties that have led to job cuts. As a result, workers' income expectations are low.

This round of economic recovery will depend more on the market, and might take longer, with less government policy support compared with 2008 and 2009, he said.