Call for fixing consumption imbalance

As China pushes ahead with a shift away from its investment and export-driven growth model to one centered on innovation and consumption, addressing the structural imbalances in consumption patterns has emerged as a critical challenge, although it presents a significant opportunity as well, senior economists said.

"The consumption deficiency in China is not primarily a problem of the average consumption level, but rather a structural imbalance," said Liu Shijin, former deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council.

The root causes of this issue include "the uneven distribution of essential public services, the slow progress of urbanization, and the disparities in income distribution," Liu added.