Achieving this year’s inflation target would be one of China’s top economic tasks, a prominent economist and government adviser said, as it was pivotal to accomplishing other government priorities such as boosting consumption, raising incomes and achieving the required headline growth figures.

“The inflation target corresponds to a state of relative equilibrium between supply and demand,” Zhang Bin, deputy director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said on Thursday.

“Among the various macroeconomic objectives, I believe the most crucial one is the inflation target.”

Also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Zhang’s comments came as Beijing endeavours to emerge from a period of deflationary pressure and see the country’s annual inflation rate head towards 2 per cent – its target for this year.

Two per cent is also the level at which the US hopes to cap its inflation.

The annual session of the CPPCC, China’s top political advisory body, convened in Beijing this week alongside that of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature. Collectively known as the “two sessions”, they are a key window to understanding Beijing’s policy direction.