China will target economic growth of “around 7 per cent” this year, Premier Li Keqiang told parliament on Thursday, signalling that the leadership expects the country’s economy to slow further following the slowest expansion for 24 years in 2014. The country, which has enjoyed some of the fastest growth rates in the world in the past two decades or so, is now slowing as it approaches middle-income levels. Mr Li reiterated Beijing’s refrain that economic development has entered “a new normal”. Illustrating the breadth of issues Beijing is grappling with, Mr Li’s 3 per cent target for consumer price inflation is a far cry from January’s […]