China sees consumption boom during holiday

Photo: Tourists shop at a duty-free shopping mall in Sanya City, south China's Hainan Province, Oct. 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China saw robust consumption during the three-day New Year holiday thanks to the central and local policies for boosting domestic consumption, reported Xinhua-run Economic Information Daily on Monday.

According to data from China UnionPay, on the first day of 2021, inter-bank transactions through its network amounted to 359.2 billion yuan (about 55.07 billion U.S. dollars), indicating that China's consumption has almost returned to the pre-pandemic level.

Local policies have injected impetus to the recovery of consumption. Before the New Year holiday, many regions have rolled out measures to boost consumption.

For example, southwest China's Guizhou Province has allocated 94.5 million yuan to expand consumption in such fields as tourism, automobile and home appliances. China's capital Beijing initiated a "consumption month" campaign by tapping special demands during the two most important traditional festivals, the New Year and the Spring Festival, which will fall on Feb. 12 this year.

Apart from policies at local level, the central government also adopted long-term policies to stimulate consumption.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) has recently ordered more service centers built in urban and rural areas that integrate catering, housekeeping, nursery, and elderly care services, and urged to modify existing centers to help elders with digital barriers, creating an elder-friendly consumption environment.

Thanks to these policies, optimism about China's consumption recovery prevails. Guan Lixin, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said that the implementation of these measures will enhance confidence in consumers, meet diversified and upgraded demands and optimize consumption environment.

Guan suggested that in 2021, the consumption market will continue to recover. In this way, China is expected to be the world's largest consumer of goods.

(Edited by Li Shimeng with Xinhua Silk Road, lishimeng@xinhua.org)