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China aims to maintain growth pace, to raise military spending by 7.6 % in 2016

China's Premier Li Keqiang announced on Saturday that Beijing would aim to keep the economy growing by at least 6.5 percent over the next five years, as it continues efforts to restructure the economy. Growth of 6.5 percent would be the slowest in China in a quarter century as world's No. 2 economy grapples with gyrating financial markets, softening global trade and efforts to reduce environmental degradation. In 2016, Beijing will aim for an economic growth rate between 6.5-7 percent with a consumer inflation target of around 3 percent and money supply expansion of around 13 percent, according to a series of draft reports distributed Saturday before the parliament opened. Li said China would raise military spending by 7.6 percent this year, its lowest increase in six years, but vowed to protect its maritime rights amid disputes in the East and South China Seas and improve intelligence gathering. This National People's Congress session ends on March 15 with a news conference by Li. 

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