"China's top leaders told government officials last week that this year's economic growth target of "around 5.5%" should serve as guidance rather than a hard target that must be hit,” Bloomberg reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Additional takeaways

"Leaders held meetings with ministerial and provincial-level officials last week, during which they were told the target won't be used to evaluate their performance and there won't be penalties for failing to achieve it."

"The leaders also acknowledged that the chances of meeting the target were slim."

This comes as policymakers are starting to concede that it is unlikely that the country's GDP growth will be hit in 2022.

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