News from CCTV: Understand China’s economic answers and pay attention to important economic indicators. Based on the latest data for 2024 released by the National Bureau of Statistics, we selected some of the important indicators and interviewed the spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics as well as economic experts and scholars for in-depth interpretation.

Let’s take a look at consumption first. In 2024, with a series of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption continue to be effective, the consumer market will achieve steady growth, and residents’ consumption will shift from mainly commodity consumption to equal emphasis on the consumption of goods and services. .

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In this 2024 China economic answer sheet, it can be seen that the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 48.8 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.5% over the previous year, and the scale is firmly at the forefront of the global market. In terms of quarters, the first, second, third and fourth quarters increased by 4.7%, 2.6%, 2.7% and 3.8% respectively year-on-year. The growth in the third and fourth quarters accelerated compared with the previous quarter.

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Wang Guanhua, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics and deputy director of the Department of Comprehensive National Economic Statistics, said that in 2024, the scale of my country's consumer market will continue to expand and the structure will continue to be optimized. Residents’ consumption has shifted from mainly commodity consumption to equal emphasis on goods and services. Digital consumption, green consumption, and healthy consumption are increasingly favored by consumers.

Through this answer sheet, we can see that the sales of related products are improving. As the trade-in policy for consumer goods continues to increase efficiency, the retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment have grown at double digits for four consecutive months, the growth rate of retail sales of automobiles and furniture has turned from negative to positive, and the retail sales of construction and decoration materials have gradually improved.

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Through this answer sheet, we can see that the demand for service consumption continues to be released. In 2024, service retail sales will increase by 6.2% over the previous year, and the growth rate is 3.0 percentage points higher than the retail sales of goods in the same period. Transportation, tourism and other related consumption growth is relatively good. Digital entertainment, online education, live streaming and short video shopping have driven the retail sales of communication and information services to achieve double-digit growth.

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In 2025, "vigorously boost consumption ", improve investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand in an all-round way" is listed as the first key economic task. Innovating diversified consumption scenarios and expanding service consumption have become important starting points.

Zhu Min, a senior expert member of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said: "China's consumption of commodities and material products has accounted for 31% of GDP, and the per capita GDP has gradually moved towards the current level of about 13,000 US dollars. It is almost the same. After the per capita GDP level is high, the demand for necessities will always have a limit, and then it will gradually decline, and what is needed is the demand for services, and development needs will become more and more important. ”

Looking forward to 2025, experts believe that catering, tourism and leisure consumption will continue to recover, and there is huge room for development in service consumption such as medical care, education, culture, sports and tourism. Continued efforts on the policy side will continue to boost the sales of bulk consumer goods such as automobiles and home appliances.

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Zhang Linshan, a researcher at the Macroeconomic Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, said: “my country’s consumer market will show a steady growth trend in 2025. Online and offline integration will accelerate, and consumers will experience more convenient shopping methods, social media and Short video platforms will remain an important channel for promotion and sales. In terms of electronic products, emerging electronic products such as smart homes and wearable devices are expected to experience explosive growth.”