The 2024 Central Economic Work Conference will list "vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand in all aspects" as the first of nine key tasks in 2025, highlighting the importance of domestic demand to my country's economic development.

Recently, at a press conference of the State Council Information Office, Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in 2024, all regions and departments will step up their efforts to implement policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption to stabilize and expand residents' consumption. Especially since the fourth quarter, the policy of exchanging consumer goods for old-for-new has been strengthened, and the effect has continued to appear. The growth rate of market sales has rebounded significantly, promoting the recovery and improvement of the economy.

■ Market size continues to expand

In 2024, the scale of social consumer goods retail has firmly ranked among the forefront of the global market.

■The old-for-new trade-in drive is significantly

In 2024, the central government issued 150 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special treasury bond funds to local governments, supporting local governments to implement old-for-new consumer goods in accordance with local conditions. Since the second half of last year, the policy of exchanging old-for-new consumer goods has been implemented, and the sales growth of home appliances, automobiles and other commodities has accelerated in recent months, which has played a significant role in driving the overall recovery of consumption.

■The role of the new engine of service consumption is prominent

The trend of personalization, diversification and quality of residents' consumption is relatively obvious, and the consumption pattern is mainly from commodity consumption to commodity and service consumption. Cultural and tourism consumption remains hot, and information consumption is in full swing. Service consumption is also increasingly becoming an important direction for optimizing and upgrading the consumption structure.

■New consumption potential is accelerating

New consumption formats such as online sales and instant retail are constantly making efforts. At the same time, domestic products, national trends and national rhyme products are very popular, and new business forms and models such as digital cultural tourism, live streaming and online fitness are emerging one after another.

Of course, we should also see that residents' consumption capacity and willingness to consume are still insufficient, and consumption demand does need to be further boosted. From the future perspective, we have many favorable conditions to support the continued growth of consumption.

■First, consumption promotion policies will continue to be strengthened.

■Secondly, the employment situation is generally stable, laying the foundation for the increase in residents' income.

■The third is to continue to expand new consumption scenarios and new business formats.

■Fourth, my country's super-large-scale market advantages continue to emerge.

As all parties work together to promote the in-depth implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand, domestic demand will be more vibrant and better inject lasting impetus into the high-quality development of my country's economy.

Director: Fang Kuan, Bao Jiayi

Produced by Xinhua News Agency Audio and Video Department