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| Samuel Keith (right), 26, from Minnesota in the United States, who is studying Chinese at Peking University in Beijing, takes a customer's phone number from a colleague before delivering a parcel as a part-time express courier for Chinese retail giant Suning. (Photo / China Daily) |
BEIJING - Consumption in China will continue to grow at a rapid pace in 2016, Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng said at a press conference Tuesday.
Consumption expanded 10.7 percent year on year and contributed 66.4 percent to China's economic growth in 2015, compared with 51 percent in 2014, encouraged by continued rapid growth in people's income, improved social security and better supplies of goods, according to Gao.
To encourage consumption, the ministry will continue to promote supply-side reforms to enhance the quality of goods and services, Gao said.
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| Source: National Bureau of Statistics. |
As China tries to wean the economy from its lopsided dependence on investment and foreign trade, consumption, services and innovation are emerging to become new drivers of growth.
In response to questions that whether China will further depreciate the yuan to spur exports, Gao said recent fluctuations of the yuan will not affect China's trade performance, adding that neither depreciation nor appreciation of the yuan will benefit trade.
Gao also said that global uncertainty was the main reason China saw negative trade growth last year.
Chin's foreign trade registered minus 8 percent growth in terms of US dollar last year, failing to reach the 6 percent growth target set at the beginning of 2015 following growth in 2014 of 2.3 percent.
Commodity prices plunged unexpectedly last year and geopolitical conflicts as well as outbreaks of diseases and terrorism disrupted international trade, said Gao at a press conference.
The country's trade had grown at an average annual rate of about 15.3 percent over the past three decades, but now the speed is slowing down as the economy shifts gears, Gao said.
The minister expressed confidence in China's foreign trade growth prospect in 2016, citing the nation's capacity in almost every industry, its power of innovation, the emergence of new industries and pro-business reforms undertaken by the government.
