Consumption growth of 7.5% highlights the resilience of China's economy

Consumption has been the first driving force for China's economic growth for six consecutive years, reflecting the overall trend of "steady progress" in the field of consumption, demonstrating the compressive capacity and development potential of consumption, and reflecting the resilience and room for manoeuvre of China's economic development. The economic operation data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on September 16 show that the total retail sales of consumer goods in August were 3389.6 billion yuan, up 7.5% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage points lower than in July, and the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles increased by 9.3%, 0.5 percentage points faster than in July.

The consumption as one of the "troikas" to promote economic growth is the "ballast stone" of high-quality growth of the national economy. In recent years, China has been vigorously creating an institutional environment conducive to the steady growth of domestic consumption demand, actively promoting the transformation and upgrading of consumption, and vigorously promoting the transformation of China's role from "world factory" to "world market". Data show that consumption growth contributed 76.2% to economic growth in 2018, which has become the first driving force of China's economic growth for six consecutive years. At present, the uncertainties of the international trade environment are increasing, the structural contradictions of domestic economy are prominent, and the downward pressure of the economy is increasing. Under this background, the growth of the consumption sector is more remarkable, which can better reflect the resilience of China's economy. Data show that in January-August, the national online retail sales volume was 6439.3 billion yuan, up 16.8% year-on-year, and the growth rate was the same as in January-July. Among them, online retail sales of physical goods amounted to 5074.5 billion yuan, an increase of 20.8% compared with the same period last year, and the proportion of retail sales of social consumer goods accounted for 19.4%, an increase of 2.1 percentage points over the same period last year.

China's consumption shows a good trend of "transformation and upgrading". Among them, the service consumption expenditure which best reflects the trend of consumption upgrading accounts for nearly 50%, reaching the level of higher income countries. The latest statistical data further confirm this feature. For example, in August, cultural office supplies and cosmetics increased by 19.8% and 12.8% respectively. The growth rate was 5.3 and 3.4 percentage points faster than in July, which was much higher than that of traditional commodities. In addition, holiday consumption data also show a clear trend of "transformation and upgrading". According to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the total number of domestic tourists received during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2019 was 105 million, an increase of 7.6% over the same period last year, and the domestic tourism income was 47.28 billion yuan, an increase of 8.7% over the same period last year. It is worth mentioning that, in combination with the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China and the Mid-Autumn reunion day and other factors, various localities have organized activities of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, which integrates family and national feelings, traditional culture and local elements. 76.4% of the visitors participated in the cultural theme activities of the Mid-Autumn Festival. This shows that China actively provides consumers with multi-level choice of cultural consumer products from the supply-side, and further promotes consumption upgrading at the level of "supply upgrading".

Consumption has been the first driving force for China's economic growth for six consecutive years, reflecting the overall trend of "steady progress" in the field of consumption, demonstrating the pressure-resisting capacity and development potential of consumption, and reflecting the resilience and room for manoeuvre of China's economic development.

Consumption has made steady progress, showing a good trend of transformation and upgrading, mainly driven by the power released by China's reform and opening up, and also the institutional dividend brought by China's implementation of the strategy of innovation and development. In this regard, the August economic data also provide strong evidence. In August, the national service industry production index increased by 6.4% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage points faster than in July, and the service industry business activity index continued to be above the prosperity and decline line. From January to July, the operating profit of service enterprises above scale increased by 9.2% and the operating income of service enterprises above scale increased by 9.6% year on year. Among them, strategic emerging service industry, high-tech service industry and technology service industry increased by 12.2%, 12.0% and 11.6% respectively, which were 2.6 and 2.4% faster than the growth of all service industries above scale, respectively. 2.0 percentage points.

Service industry is one of the industries that provide the most jobs. Therefore, the development of service industry is directly related to the stability of employment and the sustainable growth of income of residents. It is precisely the basis and guarantee for the steady and progressive consumption of China. The August economic data have reflected the good development trend of the service industry and highlighted the high-quality development of China's consumption.