China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has flagged the launch of new policies to bolster vehicle consumption in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
At a 30 March press conference MIIT deputy-minister Xin Guobin (辛国斌) said that the authority was researching policy recommendations for stabilising and expanding automobile consumption, in order to resolve the problem of inadequate effective demand.
According to Xin China’s automobile sector still faces major challenges, especially with regard to the issue of weak overall demand and consumption.
Local governments including Guangdong, Shandong, Jilin, Hainan, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Hangzhou and Nanchang have all released detailed policies for spurring consumption, with other regions expected to follow suit as well.
Xin said that MIIT would also work with other departments to coordinate clean energy vehicles and related policies, in order to further drive the growth of the automobile sector.
“On the one hand we need to spur demand, on the other hand we need to expand policy support, and by this method help companies to pass through the difficulties before us,” said Xin.
“In future we will also further strengthen policy support and preparation depending on changes to international disease-containment conditions, and when appropriate unveil certain support policies, to ensure that enterprises can safely pass and survive difficulties.”
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