China pledges moves to further prop up consumption recovery

China is planning to take more actions to invigorate consumption recovery, an official with the country's top economic planner said Wednesday.

China's consumer market got off to a good start in the first quarter of the year, laying a solid foundation for the whole year's consumption recovery and expansion, Meng Wei, spokesperson for the National Development and Reform Commission, told a press conference.

Authorities are drawing up related documents with a focus on stabilizing bulk consumption, improving services consumption, and expanding consumption in rural areas to bolster the recovery trend, Meng said.

To stimulate auto consumption, the country will expedite the building of battery-charging facilities and parking facilities in cities, and promote new energy vehicles in rural areas, said Meng.

Retail sales in the world's second-largest economy rose 5.8 percent year on year in the first quarter, demonstrating the warming up of domestic demand.

In the long run, the increase in consumer demand is conducive to promoting technological progress, wrote Cheng Shi, chief economist at ICBC International, in a note.

Consumer demand will drive spending on research and development, and the resulting technological progress will further promote the transformation of the Chinese economy and increase industrial added value, Cheng added.

Separately, Meng pledged more moves to proactively utilize foreign investment, saying that China will shorten the negative list for foreign investment as appropriate, as part of efforts to promote high-level opening-up.

(CGTN)