China will take splashy actions to spice up consumption growth by taking multiple and multipurpose measures to stimulate various consumption potentials and appetites including greater scalability of trade-in policy, said Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping at the annual conference on China's economy in Beijing on Saturday.
Sheng said that initiatives to boost consumption must be aligned with the improvement of people's livelihoods. He stressed the need for additional measures to fully unlock the potential for consumption.
"Our calculations show that the trade-in policy for consumer goods has already driven nearly one trillion yuan in consumption. Moving forward, we will actively work with departments like the National Development and Reform Commission to extend the scope of this policy, ensuring that more consumers reap tangible benefits," said Sheng.
He also called for innovative promotional activities to create a vibrant atmosphere, particularly through year-end shopping festivals.
Efforts should also be made to expand service consumption, optimize structures, and open up sectors like telecommunications, internet, education, culture, and healthcare to enrich the supply of consumer goods and create diverse consumption scenarios, said the vice commerce minister.
"We will foster new types of consumption and invigorate consumer enthusiasm. We will speed up the introduction of policies on the debut economy to guide various places to develop their debut economy. We will advance digital economy, enhance digital consumption, and promote the integration of AI and consumption. We will also boost green consumption, promote sales of new energy vehicles and green smart home appliances, and facilitate consumption on health-related products through various activities. We will also develop the ice and snow economy and the silver economy," said Sheng.
The debut economy covers everything from the first reveal of a product, the opening of flagship stores, and the launch of new services, to the creation of new business models and technologies.
Efforts will also be made to improve consumption environment, including upgrading pedestrian streets and commercial districts, and creating "15-minute living circle" to boost urban consumption, said Sheng.
The vice minister added that China will continue the three-year action plan for county business, upgrade markets and stores, and increase farmers' incomes and rural consumption.
China takes splashy actions to spice up consumption growth
