(Economic Observation) Ten Billion Bills of Consumer Coupons Promote the "May Day" Economy and Expand the Consumption Growth Space
China News Service, Beijing, May 5 (Xia Bin) From April 30 to May 4, China's dozens of cities, more than 20 provinces, regions and cities, launched a new round of consumer coupons. According to incomplete statistics from reporters from China News Service, the scale of consumer vouchers put in this round has exceeded 10 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), involving various fields of consumption including catering, tourism, home appliances, automobiles, and entertainment.
Prosperity in consumption and economic prosperity. In 2019, consumer spending contributed 57.8% of China ’s GDP growth, and its importance is self-evident because consumption involves wholesale and retail, accommodation, catering, cultural and entertainment industries, and accommodates tens of millions of small and micro merchants And the employment of hundreds of millions of low- and middle-income people. One of the current important tasks of the Chinese economy is to quickly boost consumption and promote the recovery of the service industry as soon as possible.
During the small holiday, Shanghai's "May 5th Shopping Festival" attracted companies such as Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Suning, Meituan, Bright Food, Bailian, etc., all planning to issue consumer coupons and shopping coupons during the shopping festival. According to data from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, as of May 4th, major companies have pledged to issue consumer coupons with a cumulative amount of more than 20 billion yuan.
Wang Jian, senior vice president of Pinduoduo, said: "Under the guidance of the Shanghai Municipal Government and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Pinduoduo will invest at least 2.5 billion yuan in cash and subsidies to achieve the" two 5 billion "goals for the" May 5th Shopping Festival " , That is, directly driving more than 5 billion yuan in offline consumption and more than 5 billion yuan in sales of Shanghai ’s consumer goods network. "
Shanghai is just a typical representative of the boom in issuing consumer vouchers across China. In Xiamen, according to incomplete statistics, in the five days of the holiday, the districts prepared consumer coupons worth hundreds of millions of yuan to boost consumption, which is expected to boost consumption of 1.6 billion yuan; in Shenyang, the citizens enjoyed the “local one-day tour during the small holiday ", Merchants have come up with consumer coupons to attract customers. From May 1st to 3rd, a total of 185,000 consumer coupons were written off in 22482 merchants in Shenyang City in three days, and the consumption of coupons drove a transaction volume of 39.689 million yuan ...
"Consumer vouchers are a short-term policy tool for the government to stimulate the economy." Liu Qiao, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, said that consumer vouchers are mostly used when the economy is falling rapidly. The government increases the consumption of residents through transfer payments. Increased production provides jobs and employment promotes consumption. The whole process is not only a virtuous cycle but also has a multiplier effect, which can drive more consumption and investment, production activities, and produce a macroeconomic expansion effect.
A recent study jointly released by the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University and the Ant Financial Research Institute stated that by comparing the daily consumption of Hangzhou with and without vouchers, every 1 yuan of vouchers can drive 3.5 yuan of new consumption, and This new consumption has further opened up room for consumption growth.
Foshan, as a member of the "first echelon" that issued consumer vouchers in Guangdong Province, also tasted the "sweetness". On May 3, Foshan officially announced that after a market sample survey and data calculations, Foshan ’s actual consumption vouchers totaling 100 million yuan drove consumption to exceed 600 million yuan.
However, consumer vouchers are not "million oil" and must not be abused at will. Zhao Ping, director of the International Trade Research Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said bluntly that consumer coupons should be used rationally, and that long-term consumer coupon subsidies are not recommended or advocated.
"At present, it is not the implementation of inclusive distribution, but for different industries, where needs to be supplemented. Which industries have been hit harder, and then issued consumer coupons to these industries, so as to promote these industries to return to normal consumption levels as soon as possible." Zhao Ping It is believed that for places where financial revenue is more difficult, it is not suitable to use the method of issuing consumer vouchers. After all, the funds for consumer vouchers come from fiscal revenue, and the local financial capacity must be considered.
She further stated that consumer vouchers are more suitable to choose to be issued in places with more developed economy and abundant financial income. In the central and western regions, especially where financial revenue is difficult, it is not suitable to use the method of issuing consumer vouchers.
"To promote consumption growth, we must combine long-term arrangements with short-term measures." Zhao Ping said that the short-term goal is mainly to focus on consumption replenishment, while long-term consumption growth should focus on starting from the perspective of the continuous improvement of the consumption system and consumption environment to establish a more complete consumption Long-term growth mechanism. (Finish)