Focus still on economic growth

Premier Li Keqiang's news conference on last day of NPC annual session will help identify priority areas of reforms

The Government Work Report presented by Premier Li Keqiang on the opening day of the National People's Congress annual session on March 5 provided useful clues to the government's priorities and objectives for the rest of the year.

The big news on day one of the NPC session was that the government set the GDP growth target at "about 7.5 percent" for 2014, unchanged from last year. At face value, this is disappointing. There has been a growing recognition, inside as well as outside the government, that addressing China's structural problems should take priority over headline rates of growth, as long as this can be achieved without major job losses.