A woman shops for clothes at a boutique. (Photo : Getty Images)
Yang Weimin, deputy director of the Office of the Central Leading Group on Financial and Economic Affairs, stated that the Chinese consumers would decide whether or not the country's economic targets in the next five years will be attained.
Investments, which padded the country's economy during the worldwide financial collapse in 2008, will start to wane. At a press conference to announce bids on China's 13th Five-Year Plan for socio-economics, Yang mentioned that exports "will be no worse than the current situation, but too fast growth is unlikely in the coming years."
2016-2020 will see a shift in the economy as the 30-year era of exports ends, according to experts. The transformation may even take more than five years, they added.
"Difficulties will exist during the transformation, while the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate should be no less than 6.5 percent on average in the next five years to achieve the goal of moderate prosperity," said Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
Investments should remain active to prevent the economy from abruptly turning cold, but efficiency in investing should be the focus. Redundant construction investments must be phased out, added Yang.
He further emphasized that "fiscal reform under the next five-year plan is to reallocate rights and responsibilities among the central and local governments. The future model will encourage local government investment and lower local debt risks in order to ensure local governments' stable fiscal income."
The 60 percent growth in the economy just within the first half of 2015 is attributed to public consumption, reported The National Bureau of Statistics. The growth is a jump from 2014's 51.6 percent and 2013's 48.2 percent in total of consumption's share in the GDP.
Meanwhile, gross capital formation contribution declined from 54.2 percent in 2013 to 46.7 percent in 2014, and down again to 35.7 percent in the first half of 2015.
External demand-dependent net exports fluctuated heavily, going down from 2.4 percent in 2013 to 1.7 percent in 2014, then up to 4.3 percent in the first six months of 2015.
China is looking to create a moderately affluent society come 2020, and aims to alleviate poverty from some 70.1 million rural dwellers.
Yang said that the move would bring China closer to achieving impartial development among its people. He added that current developmental methods are becoming obsolete, citing innovation as the key for China to come to new avenues in economic growth.
