Chinese leaders consider next steps for economy as debt and deflation cloud outlook for coming year

BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese leaders have wrapped up a two-day annual meeting to set economic priorities for the coming year, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a report Tuesday that cited a litany of problems but also said the world's second-largest economy had “achieved a recovery.” 

The report gave no details of specific policy changes but laid out broad goals that are in line with what the ruling Communist Party has been doing as it endeavors to steer the world’s second-largest economy toward more sustainable, stable growth as China recovers from the setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The property industry is in crisis. Prices have been falling for months, suggesting weak overall demand both inside China and in global markets. Youth unemployment is precariously high and local government debts are adding to pressures on the financial system. 

The Xinhua report said China was contending with slack demand, excess industrial capacity, weak consumer confidence and “certain risks and hidden problems" — and a world that has grown increasingly "complex, severe and uncertain."