China’s month-long consumption campaign aims to ‘unleash spending potential’ of Chinese people
- Upcoming promotional period in May will involve millions of retailers, but analysts say significant hurdles remain to get people to spend again
- Boosting domestic consumption is an economic priority in China’s five-year plan to 2025, as well as its long-term vision through 2035
China is gearing up for a month-long campaign to “accelerate the recovery of consumption and unleash the spending potential” of its people, as the country has effectively brought the pandemic under control but is still struggling to boost consumer spending so that it is the driving force behind the nation’s economic recovery.
The national consumption festival, hosted by the Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom), will kick off on Saturday in Shanghai with a variety of events such as online sales and auto exhibitions, as well as discounts and vouchers across the country.
“Household spending is now restricted to a certain degree, while the recovery is unbalanced with some sectors, businesses, products and regions progressing slowly,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng said at a press conference on Sunday.
The move came as the Chinese leadership is increasingly looking inward to tap the potential of its huge domestic market to fuel economic growth, particularly amid external uncertainties.
But despite the central government’s enthusiasm, there are worries that consumer confidence is not yet strong enough in post-coronavirus China.