Domestic consumption still has much potential remaining to be tapped. China's population accounts for 18 percent of the world's total, but its consumption accounts for only 12 percent of global consumption.

In the long run, the consumption of China's huge population will be one of the main drivers for the country's economic growth. Which is why, on Wednesday, at a meeting of the State Council, China's Cabinet, it was decided to support new consumption so as to exploit the potential of the domestic market and boost domestic demand.

The new type of consumption involves not only industrial products, but also agricultural products, as well as a wide range of services such as medical treatment, education, tourism and fitness. The next step is to carry out more exploration in these fields, tap their potential, and promote the expansion and quality improvement of new consumption.

Domestic service consumption still has room to grow. It accounted for 45.9 percent of the total economy in 2019, and it could reach 60 to 65 percent, with experts saying that it is possible for it to grow by 1 to 1.5 percentage points each year.

At the meeting, the State Council clearly proposed several measures to support the development of new business forms and new models, accelerate the development of new consumption and drive new consumption, including accelerating the construction of new consumption infrastructure.

The key to promoting new consumption is to improve the infrastructure necessary to support it. This would not only effectively release the short-term new consumption, but also lay a solid foundation for the formation and release of updated consumption in the medium and long term. Generally speaking, the new infrastructure includes information infrastructure construction including 5G networks, big data centers and the use of artificial intelligence, as well as digital transformation and the upgrading of traditional infrastructure. In the near future, the focus should be on speeding up the construction of rural information networks and narrowing the digital gap between urban and rural areas.

All these will serve to boost new consumption, which will provide a lasting support to the Chinese economy.

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