Premier Li Keqiang Meets the Press

The fifth session of the 13th National People’s Congress held a press conference at the Great Hall of the People on March 11, 2022. Premier Li Keqiang met with Chinese and foreign reporters and answered their questions.

With respect to economic growth, Li indicated, “We face new downside pressures and challenges with much complexity and rising uncertainty. With China’s GDP exceeding RMB100 trillion, a 5.5 percent increase would generate the amount of output equivalent to the size of a medium economy.” Hitting this goal is not easy and would need the support of a series of macro policies, Li noted.

Regarding further improvement of people’s lives, Li said, “We have managed to keep fiscal spending on education above four percent of GDP for 10 consecutive years.” He then added, “We will increase government funding to compulsory education in rural and remote areas.” In addition, Li emphasized that China has established the world’s largest medical insurance system covering some 1.4 billion people. China has also established a program of medical insurance for major illnesses, using basic medical insurance funds for the purchase of commercial insurance for major illnesses. In some places this program has enabled reimbursement of RMB 300,000 to 500,000 for some illnesses. On average, some 70 percent of medical bills of rural and urban non-working residents can get reimbursed and the benefits will continue to rise as the country’s capacity grows.