China announces plans to boost consumption of cars, electronic goods

China unveiled plans on Friday to boost the consumption of automobile and electronic products, as part of package measures to promote a sustained recovery in consumption and consolidate the recovery trend.

The plans detail a total of 22 measures, including easing restrictions on car purchases, reducing costs on the purchase and use of new energy vehicles and promoting the consumption of home appliances in rural areas, seeking to create a better environment for the consumption of automobile and electronic products.

Released by the National Development and Reform Commission and several other central departments, the two documents require efforts to step up the construction of supporting facilities for NEVs, promote the purchase of NEVs in the public sector, increase car consumption credit support, create more electronic products consumption scenarios and improve the selling and delivering system of electronic products.

In a bid to foster a healthy automotive market, the documents urged localities and relevant departments to promptly roll out supporting policies and not to introduce policies for local protection.

To further spur the consumption of electronic products as well as improve the products offering and consumption environment, more efforts will also be made to boost technological innovation of electronic products, strengthen the protection of personal information and accelerate the study and formulation of the national standards for green and smart home appliances, according to the plans.

The world's second-largest economy grew slower than expected in the second quarter after a post-COVID bounce in the first quarter. China's GDP grew by 6.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, weaker than the 7.3 percent predicted by a Reuters poll.

China's retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, grew by 3.1 percent year-on-year in June, down from the 12.7 percent growth in May.