Expanding China's domestic demand helps offset the impacts from an uncertain external environment, said an analyst.
China highlighted domestic demand at its annual Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.
The conference laid out eight major tasks of the next year's economic work, with domestic demand remaining as a focus in building a robust domestic market.
Noting that there are still long-standing and new challenges in China's economic development, and the impact of changes in the external environment has deepened while risks and hidden dangers persist in some key areas, the meeting said that these issues can be resolved through efforts, and the underlying conditions and fundamental trends sustaining China's long-term economic growth remain unchanged.
"We see that China is pursuing development amid a complex and ever-changing external environment. Against this backdrop, expanding domestic demand is, in fact, a very crucial aspect that can help us develop more actively and more resiliently," said Zou Yunhan, deputy director at the macroeconomic research office of the State Information Center.
The meeting said special initiatives should be advanced to boost consumption, and the supply of high-quality consumer goods and services should be expanded. Unreasonable restrictions in the consumption sector should be removed, and the potential of service consumption should be unlocked.
"To better strengthen the foundation of consumption capacity, we should increase the income of both urban and rural residents, which can actually solve the key and deep-seated constraint on consumption. Another critical aspect is to continuously improve the quality of supply, whether of goods or services, and the focus should shift from increasing availability to enhancing quality. Besides, continuous improvements should be made in the overall consumption environment to help customers shop more conveniently, efficiently, and with fewer restrictions," she said.
In terms of investment, the meeting said there will be appropriate increases in the investment from the central government budget, and efforts will be made to better manage the use of local government special-purpose bonds.
"The investment from the central government budget should play a more significant role. For example, how we can better use the local government special-purpose bonds, and regarding that, there may be more measures to be rolled out," said Zou.
Expanding China's domestic demand helps offset external risks: analyst
