China economy grew around 5.2% in 2023 — Premier

DAVOS — Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Tuesday the country's economy was expected to have grown by around 5.2 per cent in 2023, as he addressed an annual meeting of global elites in Davos.

The figure would represent an improvement on the 3 per cent recorded in 2022, when tight zero-COVID curbs hammered business activity.

But it would still mean the lowest growth since 1990, excluding the years of the pandemic.

"The Chinese economy generally rebounded and improved last year," Li said in a speech at the World Economic Forum.

"Our GDP growth is expected to be around 5.2 per cent, higher than the target of around 5 per cent that we set at the beginning of last year," Li said.

Despite lifting health restrictions, the world's number two economy is still weighed down by a lack of business confidence and sluggish consumption.

A debt crisis in the crucial property sector and soaring youth unemployment have added to the malaise.

"No matter how the world situation changes, China will adhere to its basic national policy of opening up to the outside world," Li said. 

He added that "the door to opening up will only get wider and wider".

"Choosing the Chinese market is not a risk but an opportunity," he told the audience.