Economy will grow at reasonable speed: Beijing
The nation's economy will keep growing at a reasonable speed with stable employment and prices, finance minister Liu Kun said in a speech at the Asean plus Three Economic Cooperation and Financial Stability Forum in a video on Friday. Beijing will continue to implement the policy package and strive to realise the goal of creating 11 million new urban jobs, Liu said.  Meanwhile, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday further calibrating the mainland's Covid strategy will be critical to sustaining and balancing the nation's economic recovery. More action by the mainland authorities can further help safeguard financial stability, she said in her speech at the International Finance Forum 2022 in China. The comments come after Vice Premier Sun Chunlan called for further efforts to improve Covid-19 prevention and control measures, urging "optimisation" of testing, treatment and quarantine policies. Cities across the mainland are taking a more targeted approach to tackle outbreaks, fine-tuning 20 new measures released by the government almost three weeks ago. Health authorities on Friday reported 34,772 new local Covid cases for December 1, of which 4,233 were symptomatic and 30,539 were asymptomatic, down from a total of 35,800 a day earlier. Georgieva also said inflationary pressures were rising in Asia which, along with China's slowing growth, were among risks to the region's economic outlook. "Asean countries are a bright spot with growth projected at five percent this year and moderating slightly in 2023.  “Still, the outlook is exceptionally uncertain and dominated by risks," such as the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine, global financial tightening and a slowdown in China's growth, Georgieva said. (Reuters)