China is aiming for average economic growth at or above 6.5 percent for the next five years, the government said on Saturday, as the world's No. 2 economy seeks to balance deep structural reforms, gyrating financial markets and softening global trade.
Unveiling a draft of its new five-year development plan at the annual meeting of parliament, Beijing said it would target economic growth between 6.5-7 percent in 2016.
Weighed down by sluggish demand at home and abroad, industrial overcapacity and faltering investment, China's economic growth slowed to 6.9 percent in 2015, its weakest in a quarter of a century. Economists expect it to cool further to around 6.5 percent this year.
