Premier pledges reformand unveils support measures as he delivers Government Work Report

Premier Li Keqiang said on Saturday that China is confident of achieving a GDP growth rate of between 6.5 and 7 percent this year.

While delivering the Government Work Report to the top legislature, Li said that the country has enough resources and policy tools to achieve the growth rate, despite difficulties in the global market.

Last year, China recorded a GDP growth of 6.9 percent, the slowest in a quarter century.

The premier indicated that the growth target will be achieved without raising taxes from any groups of enterprises or individuals.

Massive State-led projects in public infrastructure and in relocating workers from the closure of old, polluting factories will be facilitated through government deficit financing and participation by private investors.

A raft of reform policies will be carried out, Li promised, to make the supply more effective in meeting demand, and to diversify financial risks.

In a research note, Bloomberg's Tom Orlik and Fielding Chen said China's 2016 GDP growth target is "still ambitious" and "testing but achievable".

"In order to hit it, and offset the shortterm drag from industrial restructuring, monetary and fiscal policy support will both be expanded," the economists said.

Li said the country still has new instruments for macro regulation and a good reserve of policies at its disposal.

The premier announced a draft goal of running a fiscal deficit equivalent to 3 percent of GDP, up from last year's 2.3 percent, and proposed to raise the growth of M2 - a broad measure ofmoney supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits - to 13 percent, one percentage point higher than last year's figure.

"The moderate increase in government deficit is projected primarily to cover tax and fee reductions for enterprises, to further reduce their burdens," Li said.