People attend a job fair in Beijing on August 26, 2022. The unemployment rate of young people aged 16 to 24 has remained at a consistently high level over the past year.
Ngoc Gao | afp | beautiful pictures
BEIJING — China’s top leaders said at a regular meeting on Friday that domestic demand was still insufficient, according to state media.
The review came after China reported it Better-than-expected GDP growth of 4.5% in the first quarter, prompting several investment firms to raise their economic forecasts for the year.
“Currently, the positive turn in the Chinese economy is mainly due to the recovery. The internal drivers are still not strong and the demand is still not enough,” a state press release on the meeting for know in Chinese, translated by CNBC.
“Economic transformation and upgrading face new obstacles, and promoting high-quality development still needs to overcome many difficulties and challenges,” the report said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping led Friday’s meeting of China’s leaders, known as the Politburo.
The meeting also called for raising people’s income sources and improving employment, especially for university graduates.
The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds rose to 19.6% in March, near a record high recorded in July 2022. The overall unemployment rate of people in cities remains much lower, above 5%.
Bruce Pang, chief economist and head of Mainland China research at JLL, said the meeting results did not show much change in monetary and fiscal policy.
He said the meeting focused more on boosting consumption and stabilizing investment, and noted the lack of “intrinsic” momentum focusing on soft private sector investment and opportunities. to improve it.
Technological self-sufficiency
The Politburo meeting also specifically called for the further development of new energy vehicles, the construction of battery charging stations and the transformation of the power grid.
Regarding artificial intelligence, the authorities said China must “value” AI “in general”, create an environment for innovation, and pay attention to preventing risks.
The first quarter saw the popularity of ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot skyrocket, prompting many companies in China to double down on similar products. Public release so far has focus on corporate customers rather than the public.
Beijing this month opened to the public for comment its draft rules on AI-generated content.
