China Economic Review

More than half of China's local governments have set their economic growth targets this year at upward of 10 percent, higher than the national economic growth estimate of about 9 percent, with governments in the country's northern and western regions leading the way, the latest figures showed, Global Times reported.

The optimistic GDP goals may counter the central government's efforts to speed up economic restructuring and will likely add pressure to the country's already strained energy resources and environment, Chinese economists said Monday.

In the run-up to the country's annual legislative sessions due to convene in early March, up to 28 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities have posted their targeted growth for this year on their official websites.

Among that, eight provinces or regions have set their GDP growth targets at 12 percent this year, while 19 provincial governments aim to grow by more than 10 percent.

North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Southwest China's Guizhou Province and Chongqing Municipality posted the highest growth goals, targeting 15 percent, 14 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively. The targets far exceed most forecasts for this year's national GDP growth of between 8 and 9 percent.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences forecast that the country's growth rate will decline to 8.9 percent this year and Goldman Sachs put this year's growth at 8.6 percent, the newspaper said.