Xi hails steady recovery amid challenges

He urges efforts to make greater progress in 2024 at gathering to ring in New Year

China has successfully achieved the main targets for economic and social development in 2023, with the estimated total economic output set to exceed 126 trillion yuan ($18 trillion), President Xi Jinping said on Friday.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remark when addressing a gathering in Beijing organized by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the nation's top political advisory body, to ring in 2024.

Last year, China's GDP amounted to around 120 trillion yuan. In March, the Chinese government set a GDP growth target of around 5 percent for 2023.

Xi said that over the past year, China has overcome internal and external difficulties with determination and resilience, and promoted economic recovery and development. Agricultural production has reached a new high, employment and prices have remained stable, and scientific and technological innovation has made new breakthroughs, he said.