Key facts
- China's Politburo pledged to accelerate fiscal spending and adopt incremental policies to boost economic growth in the second half.
- Second-quarter economic growth slowed to 4.3%, the slowest in over three years.
- The Politburo acknowledged "difficulties and challenges facing the economy."
- Beijing's stimulus appetite is constrained by concerns over industrial overcapacity and deflationary pressures.
- The body vowed to step up efforts to boost domestic demand without specifying measures.
China's top leaders pledged on Thursday to accelerate fiscal spending and adopt "incremental policies" to boost economic growth in the second half of the year, following a worse-than-expected slowdown in the second quarter. The Politburo, the ruling Communist Party's top decision-making body, acknowledged "difficulties and challenges facing the economy" at its meeting, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The second-quarter economic growth rate of 4.3% was the slowest in more than three years, missing the lower end of the full-year target of 4.5% to 5.0%.