What to watch at the National People’s Congress

The annual meeting of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), starts soon. While the NPC meeting typically includes little in the way of policy announcements, it should nonetheless give us a better of the government’s priorities and objectives this year. We expect the meeting to confirm a shift in policy towards reining in risks and away from supporting short-run growth. In addition, this year’s NPC will also draw plenty of speculation about political appointments as it will be the last major meeting before the Party Congress in late 2017, which will select China’s leaders for the next five years. There have already been a number of high profile appointments in recent weeks, including four today.