BEIJING, March 5 -- China keeps its economic growth target unchanged at around 7.5 percent this year as the government looks to achieve stable growth while driving through reforms for a more balanced model.

"On the basis of careful comparison and repeatedly weighing various factors as well as considering what is needed and what is possible, we set a growth target of around 7.5 percent," said the government work report delivered by Premier Li Keqiang at the parliament's annual session Wednesday.

This is the third consecutive year that the government put the goal at 7.5 percent.

China's economy expanded 7.7 percent last year, outrunning the government goal as it usually does, but a set of data that pointed to softening manufacturing activity in recent months renewed concerns on the growth outlook of the world's second largest economy.

"Despite the negative purchasing managers' index data in January and February, we believe China can achieve the target this year," noted Lu Ting, chief economist of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The bank is comfortable to maintain its 7.6 percent growth forecast, he added.

Describing the economy as at a critical juncture where the path upward is "particularly steep" amid challenges from at home and abroad, the premier stressed that China must keep economic development as the central task and maintain a "proper economic growth rate."

He reiterated that reform is the top priority for the government's work this year, four months after a key meeting last November outlined a wide-ranging reform package.

To ensure the economy stay within a "proper range," the government promised to continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a prudent monetary policy.

It projected a budget deficit of 1.35 trillion yuan (220.1 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 150 billion yuan over last year, and a 13-percent rise in broad money supply in 2014, while vowing to keep inflation at around 3.5 percent and create 10 million more urban jobs to ensure the registered urban unemployment rate does not rise above 4.6 percent.

To shift the growth away from the export- and investment-led model, China will make domestic demand the "main engine" that drives growth and take investment as the "key" to maintain stable growth, the report said.