China: The new prime minister takes office, the economy is a priority

Li Qiang, former head of the Communist Party in Shanghai, today (Saturday) took office as Prime Minister of China, the second most important position in the country. Li is an associate of President Xi Jinping, and will be responsible for restoring the economy after the corona restrictions.

Lee (63) is considered a pragmatic and business-friendly leader. And he will be tasked with strengthening China’s unbalanced recovery in the face of low consumer and private sector confidence. Li also took office as tensions with the US continue to rise, this after the US government blocked the import of key technologies to China. He replaces Li Keqiang, who is retiring after two terms of five years each. However, throughout this decade his role has been reduced In view of the President’s actions strengthen his power.

Lee is the first prime minister in modern times to be appointed to the post without having previously served in the central government. Therefore, the analysts take into account that a sharp learning curve is expected for him in the first months of work. He served as Xi’s chief of staff in 2004-2007 when he served as party secretary in Zhejiang province, and it is believed that the close ties between the two will help him acclimate quickly.

“In my estimation, Li Chiang will have much more space and authority within the system,” Trey McCarver, one of the founders of the consulting firm Tribium China, told CNBC.

Lee was elected to the position after 2,936 MPs voted for him, 3 against him and eight abstained. On Monday he will participate in a traditional press conference after the end of the parliament session.

One of Lee’s main tasks will be to get the 5% growth target placed by the government without causing serious inflation or debt accumulation, according to Christopher Bador of Gavekal Dragonomics. “The leadership has already agreed to two years of extremely weak growth in the name of the corona restrictions. Now that the restrictions have been lifted, they will not agree to another weak year,” he explained.