As China’s economic growth decelerated to the slowest pace in five quarters, the State Council outlined 20 key tasks to drive service consumption. The directive called on local governments to unlock the potential of consumption across 11 sectors, including entertainment, tourism, education, and training. It also urged increased credit support for critical areas of service consumption to reinvigorate weak domestic demand, which continues to weigh on economic expansion.
Boosting consumption across multiple domains
The State Council unveiled guidelines to promote the high-quality development of service consumption. The directive instructed local authorities to tap into the potential of “basic consumption” – encompassing the catering industry, household services, and elderly care. Measures will also be taken to energize “quality-of-life consumption,” such as entertainment, tourism, sports, education, training, and residential services. Additionally, the growth of “new consumption types” – digital, green, and health services – will be fostered.
Driving emerging industries and business models
The document also called for boosting film-related consumption, upgrading the quality of online literature, performances, and games, and encouraging the development of emerging industries like cruise ships, yachting, RV camping, and low-altitude aviation. It urged the acceleration of novel business models, such as unmanned retail stores, self-pickup lockers, and cloud lockers, as well as support for the advancement of e-sports, social commerce, and live-streaming e-commerce.
Enhancing education, training
In the education and training realm, the 20 key tasks directed vocational training institutes to enhance service quality in response to public demand. It also guided schools to introduce quality after-school programs for non-academic subjects, to be provided by third-party organizations for the public good.
Read more: China’s fiscal revenue fell 2.8 percent YoY to $1.62 trillion in H1 2024
Lingering economic challenges
Amidst the property market slump and tepid consumer spending, China’s economic growth unexpectedly decelerated to the weakest pace in five quarters. The consumer price index has hovered near zero for several months, indicating persistent deflationary pressures.
For more economy news, click here.
