Premier cites many reasons for optimism
China has never said the economy must grow 7 percent this year, Premier Li Keqiang said in comments reported by the government ahead of a key meeting this week that will set economic and social targets for the next five years.
Li's comments coincide with remarks by a top central bank official, who said that China would be able to keep annual economic growth at around 6 percent to 7 percent during the five-year plan period that will cover the years 2016 to 2020.
The statements come at a time of growing concern in global financial markets over China's economy.
On Friday, China cut interest rates for the sixth time in less than a year. Monetary policy easing in the country is at its most aggressive since the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008, as growth looks set to slip to a 25-year low this year of under 7 percent.
GDP grew 6.9 percent in the third quarter, data showed.
It is normal that an economy may grow at different speeds in different periods, Xiao Xiao, an analyst with the Academy of Macroeconomic Research, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying on Sunday.
Speaking on Friday at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Li said the economic difficulties ahead for China should not be underestimated.
His report to the annual meeting of the top legislature set this year's GDP growth target at about 7 percent.
"We have never said that we should defend to the death any goal, but that the economy should operate within a reasonable range," Li said in a statement on the central government's website on Saturday.
Chinese leaders will signal that growth is their priority over reform by setting a growth target of around 7 percent in the next long-term plan, policy insiders were quoted by Reuters as saying.
The party's central committee will meet from Monday to Thursday to set out the 13th Five-Year plan.
The nation's economic growth has not been bad over the past year considering the problems in the global economy, Li added.
There were reasons for optimism going forward, such as rising employment, more spending on tourism and a fast-growing service sector, Li said.
"The hard work of people up and down the country and the enormous potential of China's economy gives us more confidence that we can overcome the various difficulties," he said.
While the government has flagged a "new normal" of slower growth as it tries to shift the economy to sustainable, consumption-led growth, official data shows it has consistently at least met, and mostly exceeded, the growth targets it sets.
China needs average growth of close to 7 percent over the next five years to hit a previously declared goal of doubling GDP and per capita income by 2020 from 2010.
