Opinion

China unveils roadmap to expand domestic demand and lift consumption

The 15th Five‑Year Plan for expanding consumption was approved by the State Council and released recently. The new blueprint calls for "holding firm to the strategic pivot of expanding domestic demand" and "better leveraging the fundamental role of consumption in economic development," underscoring consumption's growing weight as both a cornerstone of the national economy and a key engine of growth. More importantly, it signals a fundamental rebalancing of China's growth model. The country is moving away from investment‑ and export‑driven growth toward a model increasingly led by domestic consumption.

The Plan sets a target of achieving total retail sales of consumer goods of approximately 60 trillion yuan by 2030, significantly raising the household consumption rate and strengthening consumption's role as a growth driver, using quantifiable targets to anchor the market foundation of consumption. The Plan breaks new ground by putting service consumption first among its six priority tasks. This is the first time service consumption has been given such prominence. It prioritizes weak links such as elderly care, childcare, tourism, and health, in line with the structural shift from goods‑centric consumption to one where goods and services carry equal weight. It also rolls out 28 measures across three dimensions: boosting consumption capacity, improving the consumption environment, and refining institutional mechanisms. These include removing unreasonable restrictions on automobile and housing consumption, implementing paid leave, and strengthening social safety nets. The goal is to build a long‑term mechanism that integrates income growth, social security, supply enhancement, and institutional safeguards. The Plan further sets out nine specific action plans to ensure implementation, marking a tangible step toward making consumption a fundamental driver of growth.

It will take resolve and patience for macroeconomic policy to make consumption truly work for the economy. The Plan shifts the policy focus from short‑term stimulus to longer‑term efforts in income distribution, social security, and institutional environment, aiming to secure steady long‑term growth. The implementation of the Plan will advance the shaping of a stronger domestic market, where supply and demand reinforce each other, urban and rural areas complement each other, and domestic and foreign markets are better linked. This will inject sustained momentum into Chinese modernization.

Policy

1. China has issued a new guidance catalog to strengthen carbon emission measurement capacity, aiming to provide clearer measurement standards for the country's carbon market, according to a joint release by the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

2. A new plan to build a modern system of agricultural produce markets at the origin has been issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. By 2030, the plan envisions a system featuring alignment with industrial needs, effective supply-demand coordination, smooth and efficient operations, and seamless domestic and international connectivity. It will also steadily enhance its capacity to ensure stable agricultural supplies and to support smallholder farmers through better services.

Data

1. The latest data from the Ministry of Commerce show that FDI in high-tech industries surged 32.7 percent to 182.31 billion yuan, accounting for 41.6 percent of the national total, a rise of 12.2 percentage points from a year ago, further optimizing the structure of foreign capital.

2. China's imports from more than 150 trading partners achieved positive grow in the first seven months of this year. To date, the "Export to China" series of activities have been held more than 40 times both domestically and internationally, and the potential of China's super-large market continues to be unleashed, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

3. The total import and export volume between China and other APEC economies reached 18.03 trillion yuan in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 21 percent. Currently, the total volume of import and export trade in the Asia-Pacific region accounts for nearly half of the global total.

4. Since the beginning of this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation (Standardization Administration of China) has issued more than 2,800 national standards, of which emerging industry national standards account for more than 1,400, exceeding 50 percent, strongly supporting the vigorous development of new quality productive forces.

5. Data released by the National Energy Administration on August 24 show that as of the end of July, the total number of electric vehicle charging infrastructure (units) in China reached 23.683 million, a year-on-year increase of 41.9 percent.

6. More than 98 percent of the 133 million mobile phones shipped in China's domestic market in the first half (H1) of 2026 supported the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), as this technology expands across consumer devices, transport and other industries, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on August 24.

7. China's outbound direct investment across all industries reached 684.51 billion yuan during the first seven months of 2026, representing an increase of 2.8 percent year on year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

8. The overall operation of the transportation economy remained stable in the first seven months of this year, with major indicators maintaining growth. From January to July, China completed 32.97 billion tons of commercial freight transportation, a year-on-year increase of 2.8 percent, according to the Ministry of Transport.

9. There were 165 public fund management institutions in China as of the end of July, including 150 fund management companies and 15 asset management institutions that have obtained public fund qualifications. The net asset value of public funds managed by these institutions totaled 39.11 trillion yuan.

10. The latest Transportation Power Index released by the Ministry of Transport shows that China's Transportation Power Index stands at 90.8, an increase of 0.9 over the previous year, ranking fifth among major countries globally.

(Source: Economic Daily)