Beijing Issues New Directive on Mitigating Coronavirus Impacts by Spurring Consumption

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The Chinese central government is stepping up efforts to keep the economy afloat following the coronavirus outbreak with the issuance of a new directive for driving domestic consumption.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently issued the “Implementation Opinions on Driving the Expansion and Quality Improvement of Consumption and the Accelerated Formation of a Great Domestic Economy” (关于促进消费扩容提质加快形成强大国内市场的实施意见) in collaboration with 22 other central government departments.

The Directive calls for offsetting the impacts of the novel coronavirus on the Chinese economy with a series of policies including:

  • Driving growth in cultural, tourism and leisure consumption,
  • The establishment of urban-rural integrated consumption networks,
  • The accelerated establishment of a “Smart+” consumer ecosystem,
  • Continued upgrades to household consumer capability,
  • The comprehensive operation of a “relaxed” consumption environment.

Wang Qing (王青), chief macro-analyst with Golden Credit Rating (东方金诚), said that end consumption’s contribution rate to Chinese GDP growth has stood at around 60% for a period of time right now, becoming a key driver of economic growth.

“After the disease passes there will be comparatively strong consumer offset demand, and consumption can be expected to further increase its support role with regard to stable growth this year,” said Wang.

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