On March 6, at the economic-themed press conference held at the second session of the 14th National People's Congress, content related to expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption attracted much attention from Chinese and foreign reporters. Director of the National Development and Reform Commission Zheng Shajie, Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, Governor of the People's Bank of China Pan Gongsheng, and Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission Wu Qing focused on how to do a good job in "promoting consumption" in this major article. Chapter layout and comprehensive policy implementation.

Wang Wentao said at the meeting that this year the Ministry of Commerce will focus on promoting the replacement of old consumer goods such as automobiles, home appliances, home decoration, kitchen and bathroom, and boosting service consumption to further stimulate consumption potential.

The formation of "it is easier to get rid of the old and more willing to replace with the new"

effective mechanism

In 2023, consumption will contribute 82.5% to my country's economic growth, and the overall consumer market will recover steadily. Next, how to further stimulate consumption with potential and continue to play the role of consumption in driving the economy?

The State Council executive meeting held on March 1 reviewed and approved the Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Updating and Trade-in of Consumer Goods. The government work report submitted for review on March 5 further proposed to stabilize and expand traditional consumption, encourage and promote the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones, and boost bulk consumption such as intelligent connected new energy vehicles and electronic products.

"Promoting the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones is not only a powerful measure to enhance the current economic growth momentum and consolidate the upward momentum, but also a long-term strategy to promote high-quality development." Wang Wentao said that the Ministry of Commerce will conscientiously implement the implementation, and the overall idea is to adhere to the market-oriented approach. Mainly, through policy support and guidance, fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties and form an effective mechanism that makes it easier to get rid of the old and more willing to replace with the new.

Wang Wentao said that my country's automobile, home appliance, and home improvement markets are complex, and a considerable number of products have a long service life, high energy consumption and emissions, and some still have certain safety hazards due to long-term use. "It should be said that the potential demand for updates has entered a period of concentrated release. For example, there are more than 16 million passenger cars using National III and below emission standards, of which more than 7 million are more than 15 years old; an average of about 270 million every year According to standards, Taiwanese home appliances have exceeded their safe use life. Of course, it must be emphasized that the trade-in of old appliances for new appliances must be based on the voluntary basis of consumers."

Zheng Shanjie, director of the National Development and Reform Commission, introduced at the meeting that the above-mentioned action plan will focus on the implementation of "four major actions": equipment updating, replacing old consumer goods with new ones, recycling, and standard improvement.

"Promoting large-scale equipment updates and replacing old consumer goods with new ones is a systematic project, and to do this job well requires a good policy mix. We will work with relevant parties to increase fiscal, financial, taxation and other policy support, and strengthen land and energy use. We will implement the 'Four Major Actions' in depth to ensure the guarantee of other factors and the support of scientific and technological innovation, do practical things well, do good things well, and solidly promote high-quality economic development." Zheng Shanjie said.

Efforts to expand service consumption

In response to this year's consumption promotion work, the Ministry of Commerce has already planned and taken action, designating 2024 as the "Consumption Promotion Year." During the Spring Festival, the Ministry of Commerce, together with five departments, launched the "National Online New Year Shopping Festival" event. Domestic "trendy" products and costume jewelry were popular, and online sales more than tripled. This is also the first event of the "Consumption Promotion Year". According to business big data monitoring, during this year’s Spring Festival, the sales of key retail and catering companies across the country increased by 8.5% year-on-year, and the passenger flow and turnover of demonstration pedestrian streets increased by 32.9% and 36.1% year-on-year.

"Next, the Ministry of Commerce will highlight key categories and festival seasons, and guide various localities to carry out a series of colorful and diverse 'Consumption Promotion Year' series of special activities to continue to release consumption potential." Wang Wentao said.

This year, the Ministry of Commerce will also make efforts to expand service consumption. Wang Wentao introduced that in recent years, my country's service consumption has developed rapidly. From 2013 to 2023, the proportion of residents' per capita service consumption expenditure increased from 39.7% to 45.2%, an increase of 5.5 percentage points. In the future, there will be huge space and potential for service consumption.

Wang Wentao said that in the next step, the Ministry of Commerce will work with relevant departments to focus on promoting service consumption in three aspects. The first is to strengthen coordination and build a “1+N” work system. The so-called "1" means to coordinate the formulation of comprehensive documents to clarify the goals, tasks and key measures to expand service consumption in the future. The so-called "N" refers to the introduction of "N" policy documents and specific measures around a number of different fields, including industry promotion, policy support, factor guarantees, and environmental optimization.

The second is to expand the opening of service fields and enrich the supply of service consumption. Promote the relaxation of market access in telecommunications, medical and other service industries, make good use of resources from both domestic and foreign markets, and continue to expand service supply.

The third is to build a platform carrier and innovate service consumption scenarios. Carry out a series of activities such as the "Service Consumption Season" and "Chinese Food Gathering" to promote the integrated development of business, travel, culture, sports and health and other industries to better meet the people's personalized, diversified and quality service consumption needs.