China’s new economic reality
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 16 March 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We look at what China’s latest “Two Sessions” reveal about the direction of the world’s second-largest economy.
With Beijing setting its lowest GDP growth target since 1991, the focus appears to be shifting from rapid expansion to stability in an increasingly uncertain global economy. We explore what that means for businesses, investors and young people trying to find work in China today.
If you'd like to get in touch with the team, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk
Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: David Cann
Business Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.
Each episode is a 17-minute, daily deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story.
Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the growth in AI, the cost of living, why bond markets are so powerful, China's property bubble, and Gen Z's experience of the current job market.
We also feature in-depth interviews with company founders and some of the world's most prominent CEOs. These include Google's Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins.
(Picture: Chinese President Xi Jinping, centre right, and Premier Li Qiang, centre left, arrive at the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People on the 12th of March 2026 in Beijing, China. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.6 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.2 | I'm Rahul Tandon. |
| 0:13.6 | China has been the economic success story of this century, |
| 0:17.6 | but its economy has now started to slow down, and it's just announced its |
| 0:23.2 | plans to deal with that. So the one word that keeps coming up when you talk to a lot of folks |
| 0:28.2 | is a Chinese word called Wen Ding, which stands for stability. That seems to be what people |
| 0:34.4 | want. We'll hear from one of the country's leading economists |
| 0:37.5 | on the economic challenges that the country is now facing. |
| 0:41.9 | So China is like a huge oil tanker. |
| 0:44.7 | Oil tanker takes time to make a turn. |
| 0:47.2 | When it makes a turn, it makes a turn slowly and steadily. |
| 0:50.5 | And we'll look at what these new policies mean |
| 0:53.0 | for the world's second largest economy. |
| 0:55.8 | Why is China choosing stability over growth? |
| 0:59.9 | That's all coming up here on Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:15.9 | Those are the sounds from China's recent two sessions meeting. It's the time where every year the country's most important officials |
| 1:20.3 | gather in Beijing's spectacular, great hall of the people. |
| 1:31.3 | Now I'm the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China open. |
| 1:42.3 | This year is especially important as China has unveiled its five-year plan. And as always, the main focus has been on the economy. Let's hear from the country's Prime Minister Li Chong. |
| 1:56.2 | Main target for development this year include an economic growth of 4.5% to 5%. |
| 2:03.0 | And that is what has caught the world's attention. |
... |
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