The Chinese ruling Communist Party may tune down the country’s economic growth expectations to 6.5% in its 13th “five-year plan” during a meeting this week, according to the Economic Information Daily.

The CCP Central Committee on Monday opened its fifth plenary session which will focus on laying out plans for economic and social development in the 13th five-year period.

CCP fifth plenum
The Great People’s Hall. Photo: nipic.com

Due to the current economic downward pressure, the central leadership could lower China’s GDP growth estimate from the current 7% to 6.5%, reported the paper citing unnamed experts. The newspaper is published by the state-owned Xinhua agency.

Meanwhile, President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign is set to be reinforced with the expulsion of 11 party officials during the meeting, financial news service Caixin reported. Among them is former president Hu Jintao’s top aide Ling Jihua, whose son died in a tragic Ferrari crash in 2012.

The fifth plenary session will last four days until Thursday this week.

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Vivienne Zeng is a journalist from China with three years' experience covering Hong Kong and mainland affairs. She has an MA in journalism from the University of Hong Kong. Her work has been featured on outlets such as Al Jazeera+ and MSNBC.