China’s economy made steady progress, policies in place to deal with risks: Xi

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Playing down concerns over economic slowdown in China amid the intense trade war with the US, President Xi Jinping has said the world’s second largest economy has made “steady” progress as his government took new steps for reforms and opening-up of economy to avert major risks.

Greeting Chinese people on the eve of the Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, Xi said at an official reception here that in the past year China has made efforts and “achieved a lot”.

The Chinese New Year, which falls on February 5, is the grandest festival in China. Starting from Monday China will be officially shut down for a week to celebrate the New Year, bidding farewell to the Year of Dog and to welcome the Year of Pig.

In his speech, Xi noted that Chinese people had a hard but fulfilling year. “The Chinese economy remained steady while making progress, with new steps taken in reform and opening-up,” he said. China’s economy sank to a 28-year low in 2018 slowing down to 6.6 per cent year-on-year, lower than the 6.8-per cent growth registered in 2017.