In his starkest warning yet about China's economy, Premier Li Keqiang said that the world's second-largest economy is in some respects faring worse than it did in 2020 when the pandemic hit.

"Economic indicators in China have fallen significantly, and difficulties in some aspects and to a certain extent are greater than when the epidemic hit us severely in 2020," Li said on Wednesday at an emergency meeting with local governments, state-owned companies, and financial firms representatives.

The latest warning adds to expectations that China may miss its GDP target by a large margin this year, following stringent controls to limit Covid-19 infections.

The premier called on officials to ensure unemployment falls and the economy "operates in a reasonable range" in the second quarter of this year. The unemployment rate in China climbed to 6.1 percent in April this year, and industrial output contracted for the first time since 2020.

Without specifying any details, Li, in his speech, indicated that the government would attempt to reduce the economic impact of its COVID control policies. "At the same time as controlling the epidemic, we must complete the task of economic development," he said.

Li outlined 33 measures in his speech to boost economic activities, including more than 140 billion yuan ($21 billion) of additional tax reductions and spending most of the 3.65 trillion yuan of bonds on infrastructure. The government will issue more detailed instructions on policy implementation later this month.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, China's finance ministry rolled out multiple fiscal measures to boost the economy. It directed the local government financing guarantee institutions to provide financing guarantee support for eligible micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The finance ministry urged expanding the coverage of agricultural insurance and developing farm insurance produce for agricultural growth in the country.

"Efforts should be made to promote financial institutions to accelerate loan issuance and prevent forced early repayment of loans, or arbitrary termination of loan agreements," the circular said.