President Xi Jinping unveiled his thinking about the Chinese economy, saying the world's second largest economy is seeing a "new normal" emerging.
China's 2014 economic growth edged down to a 24-year low of 7.4% from 7.7% in 2013, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics released on Jan 20. The uninspiring picture has been expected by economists, who believe that it may not trigger aggressive policy stimulates as the top leadership has tolerated a "new normal" development rate.
Coming to terms with the new normal will be the "main logic" for economic growth for some time, according to a statement released after the Central Economic Work Conference that concluded on Thursday.
The Chinese economy has entered a period of medium-to-high growth from high growth, and a shift to quality and efficiency from quantity and speed in terms of development; as well as of a restructuring that stresses improving current production practices instead of expansion, and economic momentum increasingly driven by new factors rather than conventional sectors.
In the first three quarters of this year, China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.4 percent on a year-on-year basis with all major economic indicators within the reasonable range.
An aging society and decreasing rural work force mean growth must come through innovation and technology; more rigid energy and environmental constraints are forcing low-carbon growth, the statement said.
The new normal has not changed the strategic importance of a period that will see great achievements, nor has it changed the fundamentals of the Chinese economy, only the development mode and economic structure.