Reforms to accelerate consumption
Print Edition
CONSUMPTION in China will continue to grow quickly in 2016 as the government promotes supply-side reforms to ensure better quality goods and services, Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng said yesterday.
Consumption took up 66.4 percent of China’s gross domestic product growth in 2015, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. This is because China has successfully shifted from investment-driven growth toward a consumption-driven economy, the bureau said.
Online sales of commodity goods jumped 31.6 percent from a year ago to 3.2 trillion yuan (US$490 billion), or 11 percent of total social retail volume. This has contributed to China’s shift in the development mode.
“To encourage consumption, the ministry will continue to promote supply-side reforms to enhance the quality of goods and services,” Gao said at a press conference.
Last year saw 120 million outbound Chinese travelers who spent 1.5 trillion yuan on overseas trips and shopping as consumers bought luxury items as well as high-quality and cost-effective daily consumer goods.
Gao said one of the government’s priorities this year is to encourage the development of cross-border e-commerce to allow more consumers to purchase from overseas vendors.
Gao touched on the recent yuan fluctuations when he said neither a sharp depreciation or appreciation of the currency would benefit importers or exporters.
He also said global uncertainty was the main reason China saw negative trade growth last year.
China’s foreign trade fell 8 percent in terms of US dollar last year, failing to reach the 6 percent growth target set at the beginning of 2015 following growth in 2014 of 2.3 percent.
Commodity prices plunged unexpectedly last year and geopolitical conflicts as well as outbreaks of diseases and terrorism disrupted international trade, said Gao.
The country’s trade had grown at an average annual rate of about 15.3 percent over the past three decades, but now the speed is slowing as the economy shifts gears, Gao said.
He expressed confidence in China’s foreign trade growth prospects in 2016.
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