New Normal

This term was once famously used in the West to describe the painful economic recovery of the Western countries following the 2008 financial crisis. President Xi firstly mentioned it in China in May 2014 on his investigation trip in Henan Province to depict the state of China’s socioeconomic development which, aiming at narrowing the urban-rural gap, increasing the ratio of personal income to GDP, and having more people benefit from development, is characterized by the transition from a high-rate growth to a medium-high rate growth, the constant optimization and upgrading of economic structure, and the transformation from growth driven by input and investment to that by innovation. Focused on a better quality growth, the new normal will result in: sizable increase in real output despite a slower growth; more stable growth with increasingly diversified driving forces; more predictable development prospects, and optimization and upgrading of economic structure; and further streamlining of government and more power delegated to enliven the market.