Unleashing Domestic Demand

WHILE continuing epidemic prevention and control measures, China has been focusing on reopening the economy, stabilizing the job market, and maintaining people’s livelihoods. To pull off this year’s goals of economic and social development, China could leverage its gigantic market and spur economic growth by restoring and expanding consumer demands.

- CAI FANG

Epidemic Fallouts

At the current stage, China faces multiple challenges at home and abroad. Domestically, driving forces for the economy from the supply side are abating. Internationally, anti-globalization sentiment, global economic slowdown, and ongoing trade spat provoked by the United States are aggravating domestic pressure.

The ravaging COVID-19 epidemic is not only a danger to people’s health and livelihood, but also puts a strain on economic activities.

At present, through arduous efforts made by people in the whole country and implementation of effective prevention and control measures, the epidemic in China has been brought under control. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has issued a slew of policy initiatives to support the resumption of work and production, and assist small and medium-sized enterprises to get through the difficulties and resume economic activities.

China is expected to double both its GDP and per-capita income of urban and rural residents as compared with 2010, and to lift all the rural poor out of poverty by the end of 2020. The outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic complicated the situation. Since economic progress in the first few months of 2020 is significantly lower than that in the same period of previous years, great effort is needed to recover the losses and achieve the best possible annual results.