Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is to deliver a report on the work of his Cabinet at the opening meeting of the annual full session of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, scheduled to start in the Great Hall of the People at 9:00 AM on Thursday.

Following are the highlights of Wen's 44-page Report on the Work of the Government, a set of plans and polices of the Chinese government to cope with the tough economic situation and stimulate the Chinese economy. The text of the report was distributed to the media prior to the opening of the NPC session:

Major targets for 2009

-- GDP will grow by about 8 percent;

-- Economic structure will further improve;

-- Urban employment will increase by more than 9 million persons;

-- Urban registered unemployment rate will be held under 4.6 percent;

-- Urban and rural incomes will grow steadily;

-- Rise in the CPI will be around 4 percent;

-- Balance of payments will continue to improve.

Deficit

-- The central government deficit is set at 750 billion yuan, 570 billion yuan more than last year. The total deficit will become 950 billion when a 200 billion yuan worth of government bonds is issued by local governments, accounting for less than 3 percent of the GDP.

Real estate sector

-- Even more vigorous and effective policies and measures will be adopted to stabilize market confidence and expectations, keep real estate investment stable, and promote steady and orderly development of the real estate industry.

Post quake reconstruction

-- The central government will allocate 130 billion yuan to accelerate recovery and reconstruction of areas hit by the Wenchuan earthquake.

Agriculture, rural areas & farmers

-- Central government allocations for agriculture, rural areas and farmers will total 716.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 120.6 billion yuan.

Industrial restructuring

-- The government will conscientiously implement plans for adjusting and invigorating key industries such as the automobile, steel, shipbuilding, petrochemical, textile, nonferrous metals, equipment manufacturing, information technology, modern logistics, and light industries.