SHANGHAI Mayor Yang Xiong told lawmakers and political advisers yesterday that the city was at a “critical stage of innovation-driven economic transformation.”

Delivering the city government’s work report at the opening of the annual session of the Shanghai People’s Congress, he said: “Reform and opening-up will make new headway. The economy will maintain steady growth with structural optimization that bolsters both quality and efficiency, and government spending will grow in tandem with the economy.”

Yang added: “The year of 2015 marks the final year to deliver the targets of the 12th Five-Year Plan. Shanghai is standing at a critical point — although the fundamentals remain positive, we must be aware of the difficulties and challenges ahead.”

For the first time, there was no mention of a detailed growth target, which last year had been set at 7.5 percent.