Doubts about 8 percent GDP growth in 2009

Liu Mingkang
by Getty Images via DaylifeFor the first time have leading officials expressed severe doubt whether China will maintain its target of eight percent economic growth in 2009, reports Bloomberg.

Meeting the target will be “exceptionally arduous,” Liu Mingkang, the chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said in Beijing today. There are downside risks to the goal, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuansaid separately in Basel, Switzerland.

The central government has always seen that eight percent, already down from the double-digit growth of the country's GDP it was used to, as a minimum to stay on track. That will most likely mean an even more aggressive policy to reverse the downturn of the economy.

CommercialWarren Liu
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