According to People’s Daily, China can accept GDP growth of less than 5%

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is not tied to achieving specific GDP growth rates and a pace of less than 5% for the economy is acceptable as there is no reason to “worship speed”, state newspaper People’s Daily said on Wednesday .

In March, the Chinese government set a growth target of “around 5%” for this year, but the world’s second-largest economy has struggled with momentum, largely due to an ongoing crisis in the real estate sector and the local government’s debt problems.

Beijing has responded with a series of stimulus measures since the end of September, but so far they have had only moderate success. Economists say more policy support is needed to strengthen the recovery and see U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat as a major obstacle to growth.

The Chinese economy’s focus is on qualitative improvements and appropriate quantitative growth, the ruling Communist Party’s newspaper People’s Daily said in an editorial.

“If we do not abandon the ‘worship of speed’ and continue to expand blindly and launch projects indiscriminately, even if we boost growth temporarily, this will come at the expense of realizing future growth potential,” the editorial said.

“After hard work, it is acceptable to be a little to the left or a little to the right of 5%,” it continued.

The editorial also warned of the economic risks posed by increasing global economic instability and geopolitical uncertainties.

“Certain countries may increase their containment and suppression efforts against us,” the editorial said, apparently referring to Trump’s tariff threat and ongoing U.S. efforts to crack down on Chinese technology and goods exports more generally.

The People’s Daily announced that a difficult period lies ahead, saying that domestic consumption growth “is still weak and it is becoming increasingly difficult to stabilize investment,” adding that the economic recovery is not yet solid .

Reuters reported last month that government advisers had recommended Beijing maintain an economic growth target of about 5.0% next year.

(Reporting by Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)