Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for strengthened efforts to “fully unleash” the country’s consumption potential to spur growth amid a tariff war with the US.
The Chinese leader said revitalizing consumption, expanding domestic demand and enhancing investment efficiency are on top of the country’s agenda, state-run broadcaster China Central Television reported on Monday, without specifying when and where he made those comments.
The leader added that boosting consumption will help spur the domestic economic cycle of the world’s second largest economy, according to the report.
China’s policymakers discussed measures over the weekend to stabilize the economy and markets in the face of US President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught, including whether to accelerate plans to unleash stimulus to bolster consumption, according to people familiar with the matter.
China’s economy expanded rapidly over the past four decades due to the increase in manufacturing and production, but that has had a side effect on repressing consumption, according to Peng Sen, president of the China Society of Economic Reform. To continue to grow, he said, consumption should increase by 5 to 8 percentage points as a share of GDP in the next five years, with the first step being boosting income and distributing more wealth to consumers.
