Opinion

1. Fiscal policy provides solid support for sustained recovery

China adopted a proactive fiscal policy and implemented the existing policies and a package of incremental measures in 2024. As policy measures have taken effect, China’s economy has recovered steadily. Efforts have also been made to strengthen budget execution, so as to achieve fiscal balance, and ensure overall stable fiscal operation.

2. Spring Festival consumption demonstrates domestic demand potential

The size of China's market and the potential of its domestic demand were demonstrated during the just concluded Spring Festival holiday. Booming cultural and tourism consumption, increased consumer flows and revenue in major commercial districts, and record-breaking box office were clear signals of the sustained recovery and improvement of China's economy. The rising willingness of consumers to spend also indicates that there is still untapped potential in the consumer market, waiting to be activated and unleashed.

3. Expanding tourism's role in driving growth

This year's Spring Festival holiday saw tourism continue last year's strong momentum, highlighting the significant role of tourism in attracting visitors, boosting consumption, and supporting growth. Despite its "small size", tourism has a vast and rapidly expanding ripple effect, becoming a new engine for China's sustained economic recovery and vitality.

Policy

1. China Development Bank issued RMB 1.53 trillion (about USD 213.37 billion) in infrastructure loans across the country in 2024. The loans were granted for major infrastructure areas such as industrial upgrading, urban development and national security. Last year, China Development Bank strengthened its support for medium and long-term financing, and helped advance the implementation of 102 key projects listed in the country's 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025). It also supported projects to implement major national strategies and build security capacities in key areas, as well as the implementation of large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-in programs.

2. China plans to further improve the management system of circulation of refined oil, and promote its high-quality development, according to a circular released by the General Office of the State Council recently, which proposed specific measures across five key areas.

Data

1. China's annual trade in services exceeded USD 1 trillion for the first time last year, demonstrating significant potential for further growth, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

2. The New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, a key logistics network connecting China's western regions to global markets, has transported a record 104,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) via intermodal rail-sea service in January, up 30.9 percent year-on-year, according to the China Railway Nanning Group. It was the fastest year to surpass the milestone volume of 100,000 TEUs since its opening in 2017 and 15 days earlier than 2024.

3. The 2025 Spring Festival holiday has set a new milestone for China's thriving film industry, with more than 170 million moviegoers packing theaters over the course of the extended week, setting new highs in audience turnout, as announced by the China Film Administration on February 5.

4. The Spring Festival travel rush team for comprehensive transportation announced on February 5, 2025 that during this year's Spring Festival holiday (from January 28 to February 4), the cross-regional personnel flow was 2,306.845 million.

5. More than 1.9 billion parcels were handled across China during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday that ended on February 4, the State Post Bureau said on February 5.

6. China witnessed a record 501 million domestic tourist trips during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, up 5.9 percent year-on-year. Tourists spent over RMB 677 billion (about USD 94.43 billion) on their domestic holiday trips during the 2025 Spring Festival holiday, a 7 percent year-on-year increase, according to data released by the country's Ministry of Culture and Tourism on February 5.

7. China recorded 14.37 million cross-border trips during the Spring Festival holiday, 6.3 percent more than a year earlier, according to statistics released by the National Immigration Administration (NIA) on February 5.

8. The electric vehicle (EV) charging volume on China's highways increased by nearly 30 percent compared to the same period last year during the Spring Festival holiday, according to data from the State Grid Corporation of China.

9. The world's largest clean energy corridor ramped up power generation, generating approximately 4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity during the Spring Festival holiday, which can meet the daily electricity needs of about 1.37 billion people, according to China Three Gorges Corporation.

10. The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing announced on February 6 that the global manufacturing purchasing managers' index for January was 50 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage point from the previous month, and a slight increase for three consecutive months.

(Source: Economic Daily)