China’s premier says country will work to achieve growth targets

BEIJING — China’s Premier Li Qiang said Wednesday the country would work to achieve its economic targets for the year, according to an official readout.

His remarks came a day after China reported disappointing data for July, prompting some economists to warn of rising downside risks to the country’s gross domestic target of around 5% growth. GDP rose by 5.5% in the first half of the year from a year ago.

Li is head of China’s State Council, the country’s top executive body. He was speaking at a meeting of the council on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Li called for expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption. He also said efforts should be made to “organically combine” security with development — in the context of promoting business overall.

That’s according to a CNBC translation of the Chinese readout.

Its only mention of employment called for using “multiple channels” to increase jobs. But there was no mention of the property market.

Market worries about spillover from China’s massive real estate sector to the rest of the economy have reemerged this month as once-healthy developer Country Garden now hovers on the brink of default.