BEIJING—Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s agenda for the annual meeting of the ceremonial legislature: Revive the economy by encouraging consumers to spend more now that severe anti-virus controls have ended, and install a government of loyalists to intensify Communist Party control over the economy and society.
The economy faces challenges ranging from weak global demand for exports and lingering US tariff hikes in a feud over technology and security to curbs on access to Western processor chips due to security fears. At home, the workforce has been shrinking for more than a decade, putting pressure on an economy that still relies on labor-intensive industry.
The International Monetary Fund and some private sector forecasters expect much weaker annual growth, as low as 4.4 percent. Entrepreneurs who generate China’s new jobs and wealth have been rattled by tighter political controls and anti-virus curbs. Business groups say global companies were shifting investment to India, Vietnam and other countries last year because China’s travel curbs blocked executives from visiting the country.
A new government will be announced at the end of the congress in a once-a-decade change that gives Xi an opening to install his supporters as premier, finance minister and central bank governor.