China is to promote the development of the retail, health, travel and sports sectors in a bid to boost domestic consumption, the cabinet said yesterday.
In a statement on its Web site, the State Council said it is to encourage financial institutions to accept a broader range of collateral for extending loans to “lifestyle-related businesses.”
Other sectors that the government highlighted are service ones related to families and the elderly, culture, law, accommodation and catering as well as education and training.
The State Council said the government would also expand consumer credit, improve the system of Internet payments and study the management of credit card fees “to further reduce overall expenses” related to their use. No details were given.
The government is to crack down on price-gouging as well as the sale of counterfeit goods, and prosecute monopolies and businesses engaged in unfair competition, according to the statement.
Top leaders have flagged a “new normal” of slower growth as Beijing tries to shift the world’s second-largest economy to sustainable, consumption-led development.
China’s economy is on track this year to grow at its slowest pace in more than two decades.
The world’s second-largest economy grew 6.9 percent between July and September from a year ago, the weakest since the global financial crisis, Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said on Oct. 19.
That hardened expectations that China would avoid an abrupt fall-off in growth, with analysts predicting a more gradual slide in activity stretching into next year.
In its battle against China’s worst economic cooldown in more than six years, the central bank has cut interest rates five times since November last year and reduced banks’ reserve requirement ratios three times this year.
Chinese leaders have been trying to reassure nervous global markets for months that the economy is under control after a shock devaluation of the yuan and a summer stock market plunge fanned fears of a hard landing.
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