Accumulating Persistent Energy, Xinhua News Agency's Mid Year Economic Research Tour | Interview Notes: Strengthening Domestic Demand and Investment | Domestic Demand | Interview

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, August 18th - Interview notes: Strengthening domestic demand and accumulating sustained momentum

Xinhua News Agency reporter

The economy of a great country must be based on domestic demand.

By the middle of the year, the national economy continued to recover and overall rebounded. At the same time, voices such as "lower than expected recovery in investment and consumption" and "slower investment growth" also reflect the difficulties and challenges facing the current economic operation. One of the main aspects is the insufficient domestic demand.

How to further expand domestic demand and accumulate long-term strong momentum for the stabilization and improvement of the Chinese economy? In recent research interviews, the reporter had a deep feeling.

Arriving at Nanmenhui City in Lucheng District, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, the fragrant barbecue, lively and interesting comedy, and the cool and sporty Water Gun Festival... new scenes and formats of night consumption are constantly being activated.

The data reflects the trend of consumption rebound: In the first half of the year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in Wenzhou city reached 206.07 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%, and the growth rate accelerated by 5.2 percentage points compared to the first quarter.

Thousands of miles away, on Wangping Binhe Road in Mengzhuiwan Street, Chengdu, there are over 100 shops of all sizes on a street about 600 meters away. Among them, there are both popular hot pot restaurants, Western restaurants, cafes and other catering formats, as well as diverse formats such as Meihua Drama Society and the "Chengdu December City" themed market.

"Come for coffee in the afternoon and watch a Sichuan opera performance after dinner. This is currently the most popular cultural experience tour in Chengdu." Li Xiaomei, one of the shareholders of Meihua Drama Society, shared her observations. This drama club, which has been in operation for 10 years, is famous for performing Sichuan opera. During the summer vacation, it performs 6 times a day, with additional performances during holidays.

One east and one west, two cities, two scenes, both the heat of traditional consumption models and the fire of emerging consumption models. This is a vivid footnote to China's consumption vitality and a true portrayal of innovative consumption formats in various regions at present.

Everything depends on human factors, and the broader the mindset, the more diverse the forms. Across the north and south of the Yangtze River, consumption cards with distinctive local characteristics ignite the enthusiasm for consumption: Xi'an, Shaanxi, with a thousand year old Tang style that is fascinating; In Gusu, Jiangnan, a song called "Slow Voice" has a deep and rich literary background; In Wuwei, Gansu, tourists from all directions savor the millennium old charm of "Liangzhou Ci"... Humanity and economy coexist and prosper, creating new development momentum.

In the first half of this year, the contribution rate of final consumer spending to economic growth reached 77.2%, significantly higher than last year. The total retail sales of consumer goods reached 22758.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.2%, an increase of 2.4 percentage points compared to the first quarter. By consumption type, the revenue from retail sales and catering increased by 6.8% and 21.4% year-on-year, respectively.

In the current situation where demand is still insufficient, restoring and expanding consumption should be given priority.

In response to this, the Politburo meeting of the Communist Party of China Central Committee held on July 24th made arrangements to "leverage the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth", "organically combine the implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand with deepening supply side structural reform", and "promote large-scale consumption in automobiles, electronic products, home furnishings, and other industries".

Not long ago, at the 20th Changchun International Automobile Expo, reporters visited all the way and were overwhelmed. From urban intelligent assisted driving to "zero spontaneous combustion" magazine batteries, from large screens with head up display function to flying cars that can take off and land vertically, various new models, technologies, and concepts attract a large number of consumers to stop.

"Nowadays, domestic brand new energy vehicles are really getting better and better, not only with good driving performance, but also with safety and comfort." Without much hesitation, a visitor ordered a BYD new energy vehicle on site.

Behind every stroke of consumption, there is a trend of upgrading towards a development oriented and quality oriented consumption. In the first half of the year, China's automobile production and sales reached 13.248 million and 13.239 million respectively. Among them, the production and sales volume, market share, and ownership of new energy vehicles have all reached historic highs.

The change in consumer trends has driven the advancement of measures to expand domestic demand.

Recently, corresponding promotion measures have been introduced for bulk consumer goods such as automobiles, electronic products, and home furnishings, forming a "combination punch". Guo Liyan, a researcher at the China Institute of Macroeconomics, said that this is expected to have a comprehensive effect, consolidate and stabilize the current market development trend of bulk durable consumer goods, and further stimulate market transformation and upgrading, improving quality and efficiency.

Send more positive signals through data transmission. In July, China's e-commerce logistics index continued to rise, effectively unleashing the potential for online and offline consumption; In the last week of July, China's commodity price index increased by 4.6% compared to the end of last month, and the confidence of upstream enterprises gradually rebounded, reflecting the continuous recovery of downstream enterprise demand and the upward linkage between supply and demand.

Satisfying the people's yearning for a better life, creating new growth points for consumption through supply enhancement, leading supply innovation through consumption upgrading, and continuously emerging new driving forces in the domestic market.

While consumer vitality is increasing day by day, the reporter saw that various regions are focusing on expanding effective investment, igniting the "dual engines" of expanding domestic demand and stabilizing growth.

Rushan, Shandong, is surrounded by waves in the southern sea area. The offshore engineering of the U site project of the Nanhai Wind Power Base on the Shandong Peninsula of State Power Investment Corporation has entered the comprehensive construction stage. This is currently the largest offshore wind power project under construction in China, with a total investment of 10 billion yuan.

What are the investment benefits? The project leader calculated that after full production, it can achieve an annual power generation of 2.7 billion kilowatt hours, effectively replace 830000 tons of standard coal, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2.155 million tons.

Increasing effective investment efforts and continuously optimizing investment structure are common actions taken by many regions at present.

At the construction site of Ganfeng New Lithium Battery Technology Industrial Park in Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing, tower cranes stand tall and trucks shuttle, creating a bustling scene. The fixed assets investment of the project exceeds 5 billion yuan, and the annual output value is expected to reach 20 billion yuan after the overall use.

In the interview, the project leader Peng Lin's words left a deep impression: "Around the development direction of power batteries, the company has sufficient technological reserves and is optimistic about long-term market demand. We are confident in persisting on the path of innovation."

Actively promoting investment projects that benefit both the present and the future is a remarkable new trend.

In the first half of the year, the national fixed assets investment increased by 3.8% year on year, of which infrastructure investment and manufacturing investment increased by 7.2% and 6% respectively. Infrastructure investment plays a major role, and a number of major projects are accelerating their progress.

It should be noted that some confusion about private investment still exists. "Due to insufficient demand and difficulties faced by some industries and enterprises, we are still not allowed to invest in certain directions," said a private entrepreneur in an interview.

Due to factors such as declining profitability of some enterprises and unstable market expectations, expanding investment is also under pressure. In the first half of the year, the growth rate of national fixed assets investment showed a downward trend, and private investment fell 0.2% year on year.

Private investment is an important link in the development of the private economy. To make private enterprises want to invest, dare to invest, and be able to invest, more effective policies must be implemented to encourage them to take advantage of the east wind and set sail.

From the central to local levels, adhering to a problem oriented approach, a series of real measures have been introduced with the aim of stimulating the vitality of private investment:

The National Development and Reform Commission has identified 17 specific measures in 4 areas to promote high-quality development of private investment; Guangdong announced that it will open up 101 demonstration projects and 56 application scenarios to attract investment from private capital; Optimize the management process of private investment projects in multiple locations, and establish channels for reflecting and resolving private investment issues

Today's investment is tomorrow's supply. Looking across the country, making efforts towards "new" has become a key keyword for expanding effective investment. In Guizhou, the construction of multiple data center projects is in full swing; Jiangsu, the proportion of new infrastructure investment continues to increase; Shanghai, driven by both digital industrialization and industrial digitization development

The domestic demand market is connected to both economic development and social well-being. With a super large market and huge potential for domestic demand, China's economic development has strong resilience and broad room for maneuver.

It requires patience and perseverance to both seize the day and strive for stability and progress, and to restore strong power to the engine of domestic demand. With the gradual implementation of policies and measures to expand domestic demand, the accumulated momentum is becoming stronger and more sustainable, and the resilience and potential of the Chinese economy will continue to be demonstrated in development practice.