“Chinese Premier Li Keqiang warned of dire consequences if officials don’t move decisively to prevent the economy from sliding further, saying a contraction in the second quarter must be avoided,” said Bloomberg.
The news also adds that Li’s comments at an emergency meeting Wednesday were more frank than the official readout published by state media.
Key quotes
He said China will pay a huge price with a long road to recovery if the economy can’t keep expanding at a certain rate.
That means growth must be positive in the second quarter, he said, according to the people, who declined to be identified in order to discuss official matters.
The remarks reinforce economists’ expectations that the government’s growth target this year of about 5.5% is increasingly out of reach.
Li listed a handful of objectives for local officials to focus on this year, including better balancing Covid controls and economic growth.
Li said the spike in the jobless rate -- it hit 6.1% in April, close to a record -- would bring about grave consequences.
Li also stressed the need to ensure grain output does not fall below last year’s levels, as such production is key to keeping inflation in check.
FX implications
The news seems to have a negative impression on the AUD/USD traders, due to Australia’s trade ties with China. Even so, the Aussie pair remains sidelined at around 0.7100 during the early Friday’s Asian session.
Read: AUD/USD bulls flirt with 0.7100 with eyes on Aussie Retail Sales, US PCE Inflation
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