Consumption is a perennial obstacle to China’s first official demand side reform

Zhang Jun, deputy director of the Development Research Center of The State Council of China, pointed out at the sanya International Finance and Economics Forum in Sanya on December 12 that although China’s economy is recovering continuously, the problem of insufficient consumption is relatively serious, and consumer confidence has not recovered to the level before the epidemic.

Based on the data, Zhang pointed out that scientific research, rental and business services have maintained double-digit growth, but the consumption of air transport, catering, accommodation and cultural and entertainment has dropped by double digits.

Zhang also stressed that the high unemployment rate is also a serious problem, especially the unemployment rate of college graduates is higher than previous years.

To address the issue of consumption and demand, the ongoing Economic Work Conference of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in Beijing proposed for the first time “demand-side reform,” stressing that “demand leads supply.”

But for the demand side reform, the official no specific policy. According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, some economic professionals pointed out that the ratio of input and output returns in the past is no longer cost-effective, and economic means are not enough. Now it is necessary to strengthen the demand side reform, including increasing consumer demand and stimulating investment demand, but both sides are full of challenges.

From the perspective of consumer demand, high housing price, high education expenditure and high tax burden all hinder the improvement of consumer demand. From the perspective of investment, state-owned enterprises have poor efficiency, private enterprises lack legal guarantee, and there is insufficient internal driving force for increasing investment.