(Bloomberg) -- The National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, opened its annual two-week session on Monday. Lawmakers are expected to enact sweeping changes that would allow President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely and possibly approve the biggest regulatory overhaul of the $43 trillion finance-and-insurance sector in 15 years.
We follow developments here. Time stamps are Beijing:
China Prepares Greater Bay Development Plan (9:58 a.m.)
China aims to announce and implement a Greater Bay Area development plan this year to fully integrate economic development of the mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, according to the government work report.
Central Bank’s Yi Says Yuan Stable (9:10 a.m.)
PBOC Deputy Governor Yi Gang told Bloomberg News the yuan is stable and decided by the market, in response to a question on whether a possible trade war between China and the U.S. will put depreciation pressures on the currency.
China Defense Spending Accelerates (8:13 a.m.)
China said defense spending would increase at the quickest pace in three years, as President Xi Jinping pursues a “world-class” military capable of projecting force further from the country’s coasts.
The central government’s military outlays are expected to rise 8.1 percent to 1.11 trillion yuan ($175 billion) this year, the Chinese Ministry of Finance said Monday in its annual report to the national legislative session in Beijing. Last year’s budget called for an increase of 7.1 percent, the slowest pace since at least 1991.
China Targets Lower 2018 Budget Deficit (8:05 a.m.)
China plans to run a budget deficit of 2.6 percent of GDP this year, lower than the 3 percent goal for 2017, the Ministry of Finance says in a statement.
China Sets GDP Target at About 6.5% (8:03 a.m.)
China set a 2018 growth target of around 6.5 percent, omitting an intention to hit a faster pace if possible, as leaders intensify their push to ensure financial stability.
The target was released Monday ahead of Premier Li Keqiang’s report to the National People’s Congress gathering in Beijing. While a target of 6.5 percent is equivalent to last year’s goal, the statement didn’t include an objective for output growth to be “higher if possible in practice" as it did in 2017.
