11月9日早间英文播报：Xi emphasizes crucial role of consumption

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A shopper looks at cosmetics during a salespromotion in Lanzhou, Gansu province. [Photo by Pei Qiang/For China Daily]

'Dual-circulation'development strategy called answer to challenges, uncertainties

China must firmly adhere to the strategy offurther fueling domestic consumption growth, because the stronger the domesticmarket is, the more viable "dual-circulation" development will be andthe greater contribution the Chinese economy will make to the world, accordingto the country's top leadership and analysts.

President Xi Jinping has called forexpanding domestic consumption so that all links including production,distribution, logistics and consumption can rely more on the domestic market tosustain a positive growth cycle, according to an article published in thelatest issue of Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the Communist Party ofChina Central Committee.

A concept first put forward in May, thedual-circulation development pattern is defined as "taking the domesticmarket as the mainstay while the domestic and international markets complementeach other".

With a population of 1.4 billion, and percapita GDP exceeding $10,000, China has become the world's most populousconsumer market with unparalleled potential.

Together with modern technology andmanufacturing, domestic consumption upgrading has huge growth potential, hesaid in the article.

Xi also stressed that expanding domesticdemand and opening-up do not contradict each other.

The stronger the domestic market, the moreattractive China can be for foreign investors. That will help build thedual-circulation development pattern, taking the domestic market as themainstay while the domestic and international markets boost each other, hesaid.

The communique of the Fifth Plenary Sessionof the 19th Central Committee of the CPC, released on Oct 29, said the countrywill integrate the strategies of expanding domestic demand and deepeningsupply-side structural reforms, to create and promote new demand throughinnovation-driven, high-quality supplies.

The country will stimulate the domesticmarket and let the domestic and international markets reinforce each other,spurring consumption in an all-around way and expanding investment, thecommunique said.

Stimulating the domestic market is the keyfor the domestic and international markets to reinforce each other, whilespurring consumption is the key to stimulating the domestic market, accordingto experts.

Analysts said the dual-circulationdevelopment strategy mentioned in the development objectives proposed for the14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period is the country's latest answer to dealwith internal challenges and external uncertainties.

They said that after the 2008 globalfinancial crisis, China had already put forward the strategy of domestic marketexpansion, and the new strategy, emphasizing the domestic market, is astrategic decision to transform challenges and a crisis into opportunitiessecuring high-quality development under new circumstances.

Consumerspending

Official data showed that China's consumerspending already contributed 57.8 percent to GDP growth in 2019, as thecountry's consumer scale and supply capacity continuously expanded.

Liu Yuanchun, vice-president of RenminUniversity of China, said that China has the industrial and market foundationsto realize the dual-circulation development strategy, and to build a secure andresilient economic system, the country needs to focus on the domestic market.

"The domestic market is the key to theoverall improvement of China's competitiveness, moving up the value chain andbuilding a secure and efficient economic system," he said.

According to a recent report from theNational Institute of Finance and Development, household consumption makes arelatively low contribution to China's GDP, which is associated with the lowshare of the service sector in the Chinese economy, and also because people'sdisposable incomes are insufficient to support strong spending.

In 2018, China's household consumptionaccounted for only 39 percent of GDP, 20 percentage points lower than theglobal average level, according to the report.

In the same year, investment contributed to43 percent of China's GDP, 19 percentage points higher than the global averageand 22 percentage points higher than that of developed countries.

Commenting on China's developmentobjectives for the upcoming 14th Five-Year Plan period, Cao Yuanzheng, chairmanof BOCI Research Co Ltd, said the success of the dual-circulation developmentpattern depends on the growth of people's incomes, especially that of the lowand lower-middle income groups.

Chinese people's incomes have exponentiallyincreased over the past 40 years, but the income growth of the low andlower-middle income groups mostly relies on earnings related to jobopportunities during industrialization and urbanization, he said.

As China's current urbanization rate isabout 61 percent, lagging behind the 75 to 80 percent in developed countries,the income growth potential is huge, yet about one-third of China's citydwellers are migrant workers, who work in cities but spend a limited amount of theirincome there, he said.

He suggested increasing migrant workers'disposable incomes to tap their spending power through measures such as newurbanization and reform of the rural land system.

The dual-circulation development strategy,centering on the domestic market, is also part of China's efforts to optimizeand stabilize the industrial and supply chains amid economic transformation andupgrading, experts said.

The China Macroeconomy Forum said in arecent report that China needs to move up the global industrial chain andfoster new growth drivers.

Jiang Xiaojuan, head of the School ofPublic Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, said, "Under the newdevelopment pattern, we need to make a big push to deepen supply-sidestructural reforms, develop a modern economic system, improve resourceallocation efficiency and increase overall productivity, in order tocontinuously expand domestic economic circulation."

More efforts are needed to accelerate theprocess of urbanization, spur domestic consumption, level the playing field,speed up industrial development and further strengthen the industrial and valuechains, she said.

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记者：刘志华、欧阳诗嘉

播报：AndrewPasek

音频编辑：万月英

原文链接：

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202011/06/WS5fa48625a31024ad0ba836b5.html