China to promote domestic demand and consumer growth
Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday said one of the goals for this year is to expand domestic demand and promote steady growth in consumer spending. Announcing his first work report at the opening meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC), Li said more needs to be done to lay the foundation for the country’s economic recovery. "We will integrate the strategy of promoting steady growth in consumer spending, remove limitations, to cultivate new points of growth," he said.  "[To] improve the consumption environment, we'll launch a year-long programme to stimulate consumption." The Premier also said the country would launch policies to promote digital, environmentally-friendly, and health-related consumption. He added that Beijing would also boost spending on new-energy vehicles, electronic products, and other big-ticket items. Meanwhile, Li said the central government would earmark 700 billion yuan in its budget for investment, adding it would make good use of these funds to avoid ineffective allocations. He also said the income gap between urban and rural residents continued to narrow, and the central government would work hard to avoid any return-to-poverty situations.