Premier Li Keqiang has announced that the Chinese government has lowered its economic growth target for 2023 to "around 5%", the lowest level in more than a quarter century. This adjustment is due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which weighed heavily on the country's performance throughout 2022.

Li made the announcement at the start of an annual series of important legislative meetings and set a goal of a 3% increase in consumer price index along with creating around 12 million new urban jobs in 2023. Monetary policy will be "prudently targeted" in order to maintain stability and momentum for high quality development.

China's annual military spending will also increase by 7.2% from last year, reaching a total of 1.55 trillion yuan ($220 billion). This is notably lower than the $800 billion the US is projected to spend in 2023.

Despite these setbacks, analysts generally expect China to