Summary The world's second-largest economy grew 7.7 percent in 2013.
BEIJING (AFP) - China said on Wednesday it was targeting economic growth this year of "around 7.5 percent", keeping the closely-watched marker at the same estimate as last year.
The announcement of the target came in a speech to be delivered by Premier Li Keqiang to the annual session of the National People s Congress, China s rubberstamp legislature.
The world s second-largest economy grew 7.7 percent in 2013.
Rising prosperity is a key part of the Communist Party s claim to legitimacy in China, and the government usually sets a conservative growth target that it regularly exceeds.
"We must keep economic development as the central task and maintain a proper growth rate," Li said, according to the text of his speech.
"On the basis of careful comparison and repeatedly weighing various factors as well as considering what is needed and what is possible, we set a growth target of around 7.5 percent."
Li also said the government would keep the consumer price index (CPI) target at about 3.5 percent, the same as last year s.
China will also increase its official defence budget by 12.2 percent this year, the finance ministry said Wednesday, marking another double-digit increase in the rising giant s military spending.
"The appropriation for national defense is 808.23 billion yuan ($132 billion), up 12.2 percent," it said in a budget report prepared for the annual session of the rubberstamp National People s Congress, which opens Wednesday.
China has for years boosted its spending for its People s Liberation Army, reflecting its military ambitions as it asserts its global standing and its claims in a series of territorial disputes with Japan and other neighbours.
The budget increases have raised concerns in Asia and the United States, and analysts believe actual expenditures are significantly higher than those that are publicised.
Beijing set an increase in military spending of 10.7 percent in 2013, after announcing rises of 11.2 percent in 2012 and 12.7 percent in 2011.
