Last year’s much-anticipated 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party concluded with President Xi Jinping effectively consolidating his position as the “core” leader going into his second term in office. The line-up of the seven-member 19th Politburo Standing Committee comprises five new faces, three of whom are Xi’s allies. This is expected to pave the way for more alignment of interests within the party and state organs, thus facilitating more effective execution of his desired policies. Xi has also since then sought to consolidate his authority by amending the country’s constitution to abolish the presidency’s limit of two five-year terms, which would allow him to stay in power indefinitely.

Implications for the economy

Numerical growth targets were absent during the congress, as it is a visioning exercise; the growth target for 2018 was announced as “around 6.5 percent” at the National People’s Congress held in March