BEIJING: Over the weekly Lunar New Year holiday, China’s weak domestic consumption grew, with travel and retail sales both providing a temporary respite for a dragging economy facing the possibility of an US trade war.
As millions of people returned home for the holiday season, causing an annual movement that is anticipated to be history, the trains and airports across the nation were jam-packed for weeks.
According to official information, 500 million local tourist trips were made during the eight-day holiday season, according to Commerce Ministry spokesperson He Yongqian on Thursday.
That’s a 5.9 per cent leap from the same time last year, when traveling figures returned to pre-pandemic amounts.
However, profits of “key financial and providing services nationwide” were also off, by 4.1 per cent compared to last year, He Yongqian told reporters in Beijing.
As a protracted real estate problems weighs on assurance, the state has struggled to persuade China’s billion-strong military of consumers to add cash into the economy.
However, last month, politicians expanded a payment program for common family items, including laptops and electric vehicles, from water purifiers and refrigerators.
During the vacation time, sales of home appliances and conversation equipment at “key monitored financial enterprises” were off more than 10 percentage year-on-year, according to the commerce ministry.
China’s gross domestic product increased by 5 % last year, one of the slowest in decades.
Beijing will likely aim to achieve the same “around 5 %” purpose in 2025, but the threat of an escalating trade war may hinder that endeavor.
US President Donald Trump announced more tariffs of 10 % on all Chinese goods over the weekend, with Beijing soon imposing personal taxes on fuel and oil.
