0755 GMT - Beijing is likely to keep China's growth target at around 5% this year, Citi economists write in a note. The National People's Congress meeting, which starts March 5, will approve economic targets and the fiscal budget for 2025. The NPC targets won't be conditional on U.S.-China trade relations, as all the policy decisions are likely already made, they add. China is expected to maintain ambitious employment targets, while the consumer inflation target could be trimmed to around 2% for the first time since 2003 to reflect the low inflation reality in China, they say. Citi still expects fiscal expenditure to expand by 2.5 trillion yuan. With the PBOC staying in wait-and-see mode, Citi forecasts 50 bps policy rate cuts and a 100bp reduction in the reserve requirement ratio this year, starting from 2Q. (jiahui.huang@wsj.com; @ivy_jiahuihuang)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 14, 2025 02:55 ET (07:55 GMT)

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