In the government work report, “seeing the expansion of domestic demand” is listed as the top priority of this year’s work. At present, seizing the window period to promote the recovery of consumption and investment, ministries and commissions and local governments are accelerating the introduction of a series of measures, combined with supply-side structural reforms, to accelerate the release of domestic demand potential. Comprehensive measures to expand domestic demand, multiple measures are brewing
Recently, ministries and localities have frequently released signals to focus on expanding domestic demand. The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission previously stated that in 2023, my country will expand domestic demand from five aspects including restoring and expanding consumption and expanding effective investment. Increase the income of urban and rural residents through multiple channels, especially improve the consumption capacity of low- and middle-income residents. Support consumption such as housing improvement and new energy vehicles, and cultivate new types of consumption such as online and offline integration. At the same time, the implementation of 102 major projects in the “14th Five-Year Plan” was vigorously and orderly promoted. Encourage and attract more private capital to participate in the construction of major national projects and short-term projects,
The Ministry of Commerce has designated this year as the “Consumption Boost Year”, and will introduce new measures while implementing existing policies. For example, guide local governments to launch new energy vehicles to the countryside, promote green smart home appliances to the countryside and trade in old ones for new ones, promote home appliance consumption, support the healthy development of new forms of consumption and new models, and stimulate consumption vitality.
At the local level, many places regard expanding domestic demand as an important starting point for stabilizing the economy. For example, on March 22, Hubei Province issued the 2023 provincial work plan for stabilizing expectations, expanding domestic demand, and promoting consumption. The plan focuses on ten major actions, including enhancing confidence and stabilizing expectations, recovering and expanding consumption, and tackling key problems in investment to improve quality and efficiency, and proposes 33 specific tasks. In addition, after the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the “Strategic Planning Outline for Expanding Domestic Demand (2022-2035)” in December last year, and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Implementation Plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan” to expand domestic demand, since this year, local editions have expanded Domestic demand plans are also released intensively. A few days ago, the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission website released the “Shandong Province Two-Year Action Plan for Expanding Domestic Demand 2023-2025)” (draft for comments), which contains many quantitative indicators. For example, by 2025, the province’s total retail sales of consumer goods will be stable Growth, the contribution rate of consumption to economic growth reaches about 60%; Kanli expands effective investment, promotes the transformation and upgrading of key traditional industries such as iron and steel, chemical industry, and nonferrous metals, and implements about 10,000 technological transformation projects with an investment of more than 5 million yuan every year
The reporter noticed that Sichuan, Tianjin, etc. have issued local “14th Five-Year Plan” plans or strategic implementation plans for expanding domestic demand, and put forward specific measures and goals in light of local conditions. For example, around improving traditional consumption, cultivating new consumption, and developing service consumption to further boost consumption. Taking major projects as the starting point, we will accelerate the construction of new infrastructure, make up for shortcomings in key areas, and focus on expanding effective investment. Unleash the potential of domestic demand in new urbanization.
Seize the recovery window to activate consumption Investment and consumption are the “two wings” to expand domestic demand. At present, the restoration and expansion of consumption are given priority. “The restoration and expansion of consumption should be the policy focus of expanding domestic demand.” Wang Yiming, vice chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center and former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council, said at the China Development Forum 2023 According to the annual meeting, since the strategy of expanding domestic demand was put forward in 1998, the policy focus has mostly been on expanding investment demand. As the space for expanding investment narrows and marginal efficiency declines, expanding consumption is particularly important for sustained and stable economic growth, and innovation is needed to expand consumption
policy tools and improve the system and mechanism for expanding consumption. According to the government work report, this year will stabilize large-scale consumption such as automobiles, and promote the recovery of life service consumption such as catering, culture, tourism, and sports. The reporter noticed that relevant departments and local governments are promoting relevant measures to accelerate the implementation and take effect. Among them, automobiles, home appliances, home furnishing, and catering, which are known as the “Four King Kongs” in the consumption field, account for a quarter of consumption and are the focus of restoring and expanding consumption. In addition, some consumption previously affected by the epidemic, especially offline The pace of contact consumption recovery is also accelerating
All localities are organizing various activities based on local characteristics and consumption scenarios, which effectively promote the recovery of offline consumption. For example, in Chengdu, thematic marketing and promotion activities such as “weekend tour”, “surrounding tour” and “cross-province tour” are underway. The local area has launched a batch of weekend boutique spots, weekend micro-vacation demonstration products, and themed itineraries to accelerate the recovery of cultural and tourism consumption. According to data from Meituan, since March, Chengdu has ranked fifth in the country in tourism consumption transaction volume, demonstrating the resilience and vitality of consumption.
Deepen supply-side reforms to further unleash the potential of domestic demand
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, from January to February, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 7,706.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%. For the whole year of 2022, it will be accelerated by 0.4 percentage points. Zhao Chenxin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference of the State Council Information Office on March 6 that in terms of consumption, the consumer market has shown a good trend since the Spring Festival, creating a good start for consumption in the first quarter and even the whole year. From the perspective of investment, major projects have been intensively launched in recent days, and policies such as policy-based development financial instruments, medium- and long-term loans for manufacturing, and equipment renewal and transformation in key areas have effectively promoted “funds and elements follow the project” and contributed to economic recovery. provide strong support,
Experts pointed out that the next step is to intensify reform efforts, organically combine the implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand with deepening supply-side structural reforms, and further stimulate the potential of domestic demand.
“Reform is the key point to coordinate the expansion of domestic demand and supply-side structural reform.” Liu Yuanchun, president of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said that short-term policies should be found
A policy route that matches consumption and investment, expansion of domestic demand and supply-side structural reforms. Zhang Liqun, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, told the “Economic Information Daily” reporter that it is very important to focus on expanding domestic demand. It is necessary to concentrate efforts to boost investment, further strengthen infrastructure investment, comprehensively consider economic and social benefits, give play to the driving role of government investment in investment, and at the same time attract private capital to participate. Through investment, enterprises will continue to be active in production, support employment, support residents’ income growth, and provide an important driving force for expanding consumption. Boost consumption while promoting the upgrading of consumption structure and improving the consumption environment
The reporter learned that to promote investment faster and form more physical workloads, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, and adapt to and lead the industry with high-quality products and services.
The deployment of a series of measures such as creating new demand is accelerating. The China Securities Regulatory Commission and the National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice a few days ago to give priority to supporting department stores, shopping centers, farmer’s markets and other urban and rural commercial network projects, and to issue infrastructure REITS for community commercial projects that guarantee basic people’s livelihood. Industry insiders believe that starting from the supply side and formally including consumer infrastructure in the scope of REITS issuance will help expand domestic demand and stabilize service growth.
Wang Yiming pointed out that it is necessary to seize the window period of accelerated economic recovery, effectively respond to market concerns, and boost market confidence by solving some key issues, so as to fully unleash the potential of domestic demand suppressed by the epidemic.
Post time: Apr-07-2023