Wen Seen Paring China Growth Target as Inequality Rises

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao is seen signaling next month that curbing pollution, inequality and the risk of financial instability eclipse the benefits of faster economic growth, a survey of analysts indicated.

Wen will target an expansion of less than 8 percent in his report to the National People’s Congress in Beijing on March 5, the equivalent of the U.S. President’s State of the Union address, according to 8 of 15 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The median estimate of 7.5 percent compares with the 8 percent goal maintained from 2005 to 2011, even amid the 2008-09 world recession.