Gravitational pull from demand boost

Now that the strict pandemic prevention and control restrictions have been dramatically eased, both domestic and international projections indicate the Chinese economy will embrace a strong momentum of recovery and growth next year once the epidemic situation stabilizes.

To provide a long-term tonic for its future vitality, a guideline on further expanding domestic demand and fostering a sound domestic demand system was released on Wednesday.

According to the document issued by the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, which is a blueprint for promoting long-term high-quality growth in the face of downward pressure and international headwinds, the aim is for the world’s second-largest economy to raise the scale of consumption and investment to a new level so that it can fully establish a sound domestic demand system by 2035.

This will basically entail completing agricultural modernization, informatization, new industrialization and urbanization; improving people’s livelihoods; boosting the underpinning role of reform in propelling the development of domestic demand and enhancing China’s advantages in terms of engaging in global economic cooperation and competition.

To accomplish these tasks, efforts are to be made to facilitate consumption and accelerate the upgrading of consumption, optimize the investment structure and expand the scope of investment, and promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in order to release the potential of domestic demand.

The country will also boost investment and continue to deepen reform and opening-up to strengthen the growth momentum of domestic demand.

The new raft of measures, which emphasize the fundamental role of consumption and the key role of investment, will help mitigate the adverse impacts of the pandemic on the economy and lay the groundwork for post-pandemic economic recovery and long-term high-quality growth.

In this regard, international cooperation and foreign investments will play a bigger role as China continues to open-up its market and foster a world-class business environment that is market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized, thus creating new opportunities for the whole world.

The domestic market is closely connected with the external markets and it has become the world’s second-largest commodity consumption market. With the domestic market more obviously leading the national economic cycle, the potential of that market will continue to grow and releasing that potential will as the document says create a “gravitational field” making the domestic and international markets better connected.

An active choice to give full play to the advantages of the country’s super-large market, expanding domestic demand will further enhance the future resilience of the country’s economic development.

Editorial, China Daily