China to abandon three-decade-old one-child policy, driving 3pc shares boost for Danone's milk powder
Declaration that all couples will be allowed to have two children follows meeting that endorsed five-year plan to double economy's size by 2020
China will abolish its decades-old, controversial one-child policy and allow all couples to have two children, Communist Party leaders said on Thursday after they wrapped up a four-day annual policymaking meeting.
The decision, which comes two years after the authorities began allowing couples in which one parent is an only child to have a second child, saw shares in milk powder maker Danone rise 3 per cent in European trading.
The fifth plenum of the party's 18th Central Committee also endorsed a new five-year economic plan, according to a communiqué released by Xinhua. But there was no mention of any reshuffle of the powerful Central Military Commission.
Party leaders pledged to double the size of the economy by 2020 from 2010 levels as they approved a guideline for the 13th five-year plan. The plan runs from 2016 to 2020 and is the first since President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang came to office in 2012.
The leaders also called for the development of a consumption-driven economy and to promote technology to replace exports and state-led capital investment as sources of growth.
It gave no annual growth target for the next five years. But doubling the size of the economy in one decade would require annual growth of between 6.5 per cent and 7 per cent, a goal that could clash with efforts to pursue balanced and sustainable economic expansion.
