Campaign to boost spending
▶ Significant room for consumption recovery
A month- long national campaign to rev up wide- ranging consumption will commence on Saturday with a series of promotional activities planned across the country, the Ministry of Commerce ( MOFCOM) announced on Sunday, as consumer spending in the country remains relatively low compared with pre- pandemic levels and crucial for a sustained post- virus recovery for the Chinese economy.
A launch event for the consumpmption promotion month will be held d in Shanghai on Saturday as part of a raft of activities throughout May to put consumption on the front burner. Simultaneously, Shanghai will launch its May 5 shopping festival while promotions are set to be rolled out in multiple regions including Beijing and Chongqing municipalities, Suzhou in East China’s Jiangsu Province and South China’s Guangdong Province, MOFCOM spokesman Gao Feng told a press conference in Beijing.
Meanwhile, China’s third annual national online shopping festival will kick off Wednesday, featuring premium domestic products, famous items from Silk Road e- commerce partner countries, as well as online services in the catering, tourism, culture and sports sectors, with new business models such as livestreaming and social media shopping, Gao stated.
There will also be activities specifically designed to promote regional cuisines across the country and revitalize local time- honored brands, according to Gao, who made a special mention of the upcoming China International Consumer Products Expo in Haikou, South China’s Hainan Province.
Relevant tax breaks will be announced soon, and imported products on display during the expo that meet certain qualifications will be dutyfree, Zhu Xiaoliang, director of the MOFCOM’s Department of Consumption Promotion, said at the press conference. fe
In the first quarter, qu retail sales grew 33.9 percent year- on- year, or a rise of 8.5 percent compared with the same period of 2019, official data showed. Still, as Gao noted, the consumption recovery remains unbalanced, with some sectors, business models, categories and regions in a comparatively slow mode and the demand of the average shopper yet to be fully satisfied.
In a research note sent to the Global Times, Goldman Sachs economists led by Hui Shan wrote that “over the 2019- 21 two- year period, retail sales only grew about 4 percent per year, much lower than the 8 percent preCOVID- 19 growth rate,” an indication of significant room to improve.