China's annual target-setting is always an important event. Since GDP growth targets were first published in 1990, China has fallen short of the target only a couple of times. Generally, betting on China to miss its target has been a losing bet for forecasters. This year's GDP growth target was reduced to 4.5-5.0%, a slight softening from the more ambiguous "around 5%" target set in the past three years. While it was debatable how much flexibility "around 5%" entailed, most market participants viewed this as within 0.2-0.3pp of 5%. With the new target, there appears to be a tolerance for slower growth, which should ... (full story)