China: Economic growrh China for 2023 predicted to reach 5%

Premier Li Keqiang, the top economic official, set this year's growth target at “around 5%” following the end of anti-virus controls that kept millions of people at home and triggered protests. Last year's growth in the world's second-largest economy fell to 3%, the second-weakest level since at least the 1970s.

“We should give priority to the recovery and expansion of consumption,” Li said in a speech on government plans before the ceremonial National People’s Congress in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.

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EU Economy: Euro zone economy outperforms U.S.

The euro zone economy is having robust growth that outstripped that of the United States and set the stage for a strong 2017, preliminary estimates show.

The gross domestic product of the 19-country euro zone bloc grew by 0.5 percent on the quarter in the first quarter, which translates to annualized growth of 1.8 percent in all of 2017, the European statistics agency Eurostat said. 

The preliminary euro zone figure is much higher than the 0.7 percent annualized growth recorded in the United States in the same quarter, the weakest performance since the first quarter of 2014, according to U.S. estimates. 

The weaker performance of the U.S. economy was a blow for the administration of Donald Trump, who has promised strong growth with a protectionist agenda. 

EU-Digest

Turkey signals cut in growth, export targets

Turkey may slash its growth rate target to below 4 percent and its annual export target to below $158 billion, mainly due to the global economic fluctuations, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said yesterday during a live interview on Turkish Radio-Television (TRT).

“Growth targets have now been revised downward. It should not be surprising for Turkey to revise its growth rate below 4 percent, which is still very good under such global economic conditions,” Babacan said, adding that there had appeared to be no need to make an official revision for now. “We set our annual target as $158 billion, but it looks difficult to reach this target as well,” he noted.

The comments by Ali Babacan may trigger disagreements among the Turkish ministers about the growth rate as was recently the case at the end of last month.

Read more: ECONOMICS - Turkey signals cut in growth, export targets

Caribbean - IMF: Haiti, Suriname, Dominican Republic Boast Top Regional Growth

Haiti, Suriname and the Dominican Republic will post the Caribbean’s highest GDP growth rates i 2012, according to quarterly projections released Monday in the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook.

Haiti is projected to grow 4.5 percent this year, although that is lower than the 6 percent GDP growth rate projected in a recent report from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America.

Earlier this year, the IMF had projected Haiti’s economy to grow between 4.5 and 5.5 percent.

Both projections were far lower than an earlier World Economic Outlook in April, which anticipated Haiti’s economy to grow at a rate of 7.8 percent in 2012.

It’s not clear what led to the lower projection, although the IMF mentioned following its July visit that Haiti’s government needed to accelerate the pace of reconstruction.

The rate still remained the Caribbean’s highest in 2012, followed by the Dominican Republic and Suriname, both of which are projected to grow 4 percent this year.

Read more: IMF: Haiti, Suriname, Dominican Republic Boast Top Regional Growth