New normal (China)

Since 2012, China's economy has shown a marked slowdown, with growth rates declining from double digit levels (before the 2008 financial crisis) to around 7% in 2014. A statement by CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping during a visit to Henan in May 2014 indicated that China was entering a 'new normal'.^[1] Xi systematically expounded the term at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Leaders Summit in November of that year.^[2]

This term was subsequently popularised by the press and came to refer to expectations of 7% growth rates in China for the foreseeable future. It was indicative of the Chinese government's anticipation of moderate but perhaps more stable economic growth in the medium-to-long term.^[3]

The official definition of the new normal is the model of China’s economic development under the new situation, which has three characteristics:^[4]

• economic growth rate drops from high speed to medium speed
• economic structure (urban-rural regional gap, economic industrial structure) optimization
• growth momentum shifts from investment to innovation