The official Xinhua News Agency corrected a dispatch that quoted the finance minister as saying growth could be 7 percent this year, in an apparent attempt to defuse market worries on a more severe slowdown. Xinhua’s corrected story clarified that Minister Lou Jiwei, speaking in Washington, said: “There is no doubt that China can achieve this year’s growth target of 7.5 percent”. That amounted to repeating the official target set in March for the world’s second largest economy when the new government took office.
