China took the rare move of not setting an annual growth target this year after the coronavirus battered the world's second-largest economy and ravaged global growth, said Premier Li Keqiang.

Instead, given "great uncertainty" caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Beijing will "give priority to stabilising employment and ensuring living standards", he told the opening of the National People's Congress.

He also announced that China's fiscal deficit was expected to be over 3.6 percent of gross domestic product this year, with a deficit increase of one trillion yuan ($140 billion) over last year.

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