The Buzz: Chinese leaders affirm commitment to slower growth

Chinese leaders have affirmed their commitment to a “new normal” of slower economic growth in 2015 at an annual planning meeting and promised to help the poor and promote market-oriented reforms.
A series of brief statements carried by official media yesterday gave no official growth target for next year but private sector economists expect it to be lowered to 7 percent from the 7.5 percent level of recent years.
Following an explosive decade-long expansion, Communist leaders are trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy to more sustainable growth based on domestic consumption instead of trade and investment.