Conference aims to boost consumption

Much-anticipated meeting to chart course for 2025 economic performance

The upcoming Central Economic Work Conference is expected to strengthen the focus on bolstering domestic consumer demand, a rising policy priority given potential US tariffs and the country's reform ambitions to improve its market economy system, said economists and analysts.

The much-anticipated meeting to chart the course for the Chinese economy in 2025 may imply additional consumption stimulus measures, they said, including expanded trade-in deals for consumer goods and income subsidies for targeted groups, which could possibly add up to over 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion).

Shan Hui, Goldman Sachs' chief China economist, said that the Central Economic Work Conference is likely to see incremental policy support for 2025, with recent dynamics having indicated greater policy emphasis on boosting consumption, which requires stabilization in people's income growth to realize.