Sights set on growth quality

Lower target will help maintain continuity of macroeconomic policies and efforts to change the mode of development

Based on the report delivered by Hu Jintao, the former leader of the Communist Party of China, to the 18th National Congress of the CPC and the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) for national economic and social development, the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference is likely to set a 7.5 percent growth rate as the target for China's economy in 2013.

Such a relatively moderate growth rate will help China maintain the continuity of its macroeconomic policies and also create a good platform for its new leadership to change the country's economic growth model. The principles for economic growth over the next five years or longer mapped out in Hu's report and the recent emphasis put on urbanization by Vice-Premier Li Keqiang as a driving force of economic growth show that the new leadership wants to extricate the country's economy from its excessive dependency on exports, real estate and investment for growth.