Top leader vows to meet growth target (2)

China's economic growth rate in the second quarter slowed to 7.5 percent from 7.7 percent in the first three months, with the leadership determined to transform development patterns and focus on long-term rebalancing.

In the first half, the Consumer Price Index — a main gauge of inflation — increased by 2.4 percent year-on-year, compared with 3.3 percent in the same period of 2012, lower than the year's target of 3.5 percent.

The political bureau highlighted key areas to guide macroeconomic policy and to focus on improving the quality of economic growth:

• Maintaining a proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy, and improving efficiency of fiscal funds to support the industrial economy;

• Upgrading public consumption, maintaining rational investment growth and encouraging healthy development of the real estate market;

• Strengthening policy support and services for small and medium-sized enterprises, and removing administrative fees to ease the burden on small businesses;

• Accelerating the development of the information, energy conservation, environmental protection and new-energy industries, as well as boosting emerging services;

• Stabilizing foreign trade, broadening exports and raising imports, while encouraging qualified enterprises to invest overseas.

Analysts said more detailed measures are expected to be announced after the third quarter to improve structural reforms and release stronger driving power for economic growth.

"China is on the right track for economic reform," said Jean Pierre Petit, president of Green Economic & Financial Notebooks, a French economic research organization founded in 1986.

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