Steady as she goes for the new normal

The government's work report emphasized the need for stability as growth slows and economic restructuring becomes the main priority for the nation's officials, as Chen Jia reports.

China's leadership has highlighted the need for maintaining reasonable growth as a precondition for the new normal stage of economic development, as the government faces what is potentially the most critical period since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Given the increasing downward pressure, meeting the government's new growth target of 7 percent, compared with last year's target of 7.5 percent, may prove difficult to achieve. Official expectations for the inflation rate also retreated from 3.5 percent to 3 percent, indicating weak domestic demand.