China needs resolute actions in seeking growth

BEIJING - The government needs to carry out "bold and resolute" reforms in order to meet the target of doubling its GDP and residential income by 2020, according to Chinese economists.

The Communist Party of China outlined development objectives for the country for the next eight years at the recently concluded 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

It vowed to double China's 2010 gross domestic product and per capita income for both of urban and rural residents by 2020.

Yuan Zhigang, head of the School of Economics at Fudan University in Shanghai said, "It is an arduous task and the government will have to take bold and resolute actions to provide enough momentum for the growth."

China has to maintain an average annual growth rate of at least 7.5 percent in the coming years in order to achieve the goal set by the government, Yuan said.

Yuan believed that reforms of the factor market, or the marketplace for basic production inputs like land, labor and capital, will play a major role in boosting China's future development.

Reasonable prices and pricing systems for different factors will help rectify the overall industrial structure and steer the economy towards growth driven by efficiency and innovation, according to Yuan.

Yin Xingmin, professor with Fudan University, said a market-oriented mechanism will help mobilize productive resources and help secure steady economic growth.

China's economy grew by 7.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, slowing for the seventh straight quarter and down from 7.6 percent in the second quarter and 8.1 percent in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.