China’s annual parliamentary meeting has ended. Here are the key takeaways

BEIJING — China’s weeklong annual parliamentary meetings ended on Monday and for the first time in decades, the Chinese premier did not host a press conference.

In a break with tradition, the premier will no longer hold a press conference following this year’s parliamentary meetings — at least for the rest of the term, according to an official announcement last week.

Such press conferences were a rare instance of press interaction with the highest levels of China’s government.

President Xi Jinping did not speak at the closing ceremony. He typically speaks only at the closing ceremonies of the first session of each National People’s Congress, the nation’s highest authority which is elected every five years. This year is the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

To be clear, the annual gathering of the top leadership is typically ceremonial in nature. The real power lies with the ruling Communist Party, which is headed by Xi, who is general secretary of the party and president of China.

Still, announcements made during the Congress can shed some light on government policy.

Here are some highlights of what was announced at this year’s week-long parliamentary meeting, which started Tuesday last week and ended Monday.

“Along with the extensive discussions on environmental protection, the Government Work Report (GWR) explicitly pledged to lower energy consumption per unit of GDP by around -2.5% in 2024,” Citi analysts pointed out in a report Sunday.

The report “didn’t set such numeric targets in 2022-23, after the -3.0% target and ‘campaign-style’ execution led to the power outages in 2021,” the analysts said.

But they warned that investors “need to be mindful of the growth risks arising again from potential…