China unveils 2025 work plan to spur service consumption

On Wednesday, China unveiled a detailed work plan designed to significantly boost service consumption throughout the country in 2025. This initiative, jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce and eight other government departments, forms a crucial part of China’s broader efforts to stimulate new drivers of domestic demand within its economy.

The ambitious plan outlines 48 specific measures that span a wide range of industries, encompassing both traditional main service sectors and emerging new forms of business and consumption scenarios.

The overarching goals of the plan are to expand the supply of diverse consumer services, substantially improve the overall quality of these services, and effectively unlock the significant growth potential inherent within the service sector.

The outlined measures primarily concentrate on six key areas deemed critical for achieving the plan’s objectives.

These areas include robust policy support from the government, the implementation of effective promotional activities to encourage consumption, further opening up of the service sector to market forces, and the creation of a favorable and reliable consumption environment for consumers.

A significant aspect of the plan involves a call for increasing the supply of high-quality consumer services by strategically expanding the opening up of the sector and actively reducing existing restrictions for both domestic and international market players.

ALSO READ : Wike: Fubara must seek forgiveness before reconciliation, rejects Tompolo’s appeal

Notably, the work plan also includes the formulation of specific and targeted policy measures designed to address crucial areas concerning people’s livelihoods, such as eldercare services, childcare services, and housekeeping services.

Boosting domestic consumption has been identified by China as one of its primary tasks for the year 2025, as clearly stated in its government work report.

The report specifically underlined the pressing need to address the current issue of inadequate domestic demand, with a particular focus on the identified insufficiency in consumer spending.