No worries, the saving obsession will soon end

    By Mark Hughes (China Daily)
    Updated: 2012-11-14 07:41

    Domestic consumption. Two grim words that to those unfamiliar with the business pages sound like something a waif-like English lady died from prematurely in the 18th century.

    The initiated know, though, that most policymakers regard them as highly relevant to China's economy. The prevailing wisdom is that the Chinese people need to boost, preferably, although not exclusively, their purchases of Chinese goods and services to better balance the books.

    As everyone knows, the Chinese are great savers, spurred on by a long history of hardship.

    Their nest eggs were all that kept them from an unfriendly encounter with the Grim Reaper. The Americans, on the other hand, are prolific spenders, going too far the other way, often using credit, as they bought beyond their means, contributing significantly to the 2008 global financial crisis.

    As delegates gather in Beijing for the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and discuss the nation's future, the subject of domestic consumption, and how to raise it, will undoubtedly come up.

    Now, while I go about my daily business, I see crowded restaurants, heaving shopping malls and packed buses and subway trains in Beijing, a scene replicated in many of China's cities.

    There's clearly already a lot of domestic consumption going on, certainly in urban areas.

    It's worth remembering, and I am grateful to my colleagues over at Xinhua News Agency for collating the following statistics, that the Chinese are increasingly wealthy. The per capita annual disposable income of urban households soared to 19,109 yuan ($3,060) in 2011 from 2,027 yuan in 1992 while the per capita net income of rural residents rose to 5,919 yuan from 784 yuan. According to a World Bank report, China will become a middle income country by 2020. At that time its consumer worth will be spectacular.

    In the meantime, development in central and western areas will bring economic growth. Manufacturers have been relocating factories from coastal China to less expensive interior provinces, thereby increasing the economic strength of those regions. The savings give them an advantage over rivals globally.

    Increasing urbanization will also have a positive effect. Last year, China's urban population exceeded its rural population for the first time ever. City dwellers now account for 51.27 percent of the country's 1.347 billion people. By 2030, there will be 300 million more people living in China's cities, with 15 million to 20 million rural inhabitants moving to them every year, according to a forecast by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

    These factors will encourage investment as infrastructure is improved in central and western areas. Moreover, the rising gap between rich and poor will almost certainly have to be addressed to maintain social harmony and fairness. I therefore suspect we will see more central government money being plowed back into society.

    Chinese people's tendency to save was born out of necessity. In a changed world, that necessity may no longer exist.

    Predicting future demographics is fraught with difficulties and is never 100 percent accurate. But trends, past policy statements and the sheer obvious are there for all of us to see.

    Most Chinese happily embraced the reforms brought in by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s. They made many people rich and much more free.

    It seems clear to this foreigner that domestic consumption will increase dramatically. It just needs time.

    But there is one fly in the ointment that China's new leadership must address before it can rest easy on this issue: property prices. To mix my metaphors, those struggling on the bottom rung of the property ladder, or not even on it, must be shown a light at the end of the tunnel.

    Mark Hughes is executive business editor of China Daily's Business Weekly. He can be contacted at markhughes@chinadaily.com.cn.

     
     
    新版天堂资源中文8在线| 无码精品国产VA在线观看DVD| 国产日产欧洲无码视频无遮挡| 岛国av无码免费无禁网| 久久久久亚洲?V成人无码| 曰韩人妻无码一区二区三区综合部 | 波多野结衣中文在线播放| 免费无遮挡无码永久视频| 成人无码免费一区二区三区| 亚洲精品无码专区久久同性男| 天堂…中文在线最新版在线| 国产成人无码精品久久久免费 | 四虎国产精品永久在线无码 | av无码一区二区三区| 中文字幕丰满乱子伦无码专区| 国产做无码视频在线观看浪潮| 中文字幕无码久久久| 国产精品无码DVD在线观看| 无码专区天天躁天天躁在线| 无码日韩人妻AV一区二区三区 | 精品无码久久久久国产动漫3d| 永久免费av无码入口国语片| 久久精品中文騷妇女内射| 亚洲欧美综合在线中文| 国模无码一区二区三区不卡| 久久久久亚洲AV无码专区体验| 亚洲欧美中文字幕| 亚洲AV无码不卡无码| 亚洲人成影院在线无码按摩店| 亚洲人成影院在线无码观看| 成?∨人片在线观看无码| 亚洲七七久久精品中文国产| 欧美麻豆久久久久久中文| 色婷婷综合久久久久中文字幕| 精品无码国产自产拍在线观看| 色综合中文字幕| 精品久久人妻av中文字幕| 国产乱码精品一区二区三区中文 | 无码无套少妇毛多18p| 无码人妻一区二区三区在线| 成人无码免费一区二区三区|