Buy a car—subsidized!

　　Buy home appliances—subsidized!

　　Buy an electric bicycle—subsidized!

　　Subsidized with what? With real money. Now when buying cars, refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, air conditioners, computers and more, consumers can spend less. This time, the state has directly allocated to local governments about 150 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special government bond funds, a major move to support the trade-in of consumer goods.

　　Localities have responded actively. Recently, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Tianjin and other places have successively issued detailed rules. Among them, Shanghai has coordinated over 4 billion yuan in funds, a record high over the years.

　　This time, from top to bottom, real action is being taken. Since the trade-in policy was launched in March, its intensity has been continuously strengthened, and the wording of the documents has changed from "promote" to "step up support," which shows the intensity and determination to boost consumption.

　　Connected to millions of households on one end and the macroeconomy on the other, consumption has become the main engine of China's economic growth. In the first half of this year, final consumption expenditure contributed 60.5% to economic growth, driving GDP growth by 3.0 percentage points.

　　Consumption performance directly bears on whether the economic growth target can be achieved. At present, domestic effective demand is insufficient. The Central Politburo meeting held on July 30 required that "the focus of economic policy should shift more toward benefiting people's livelihood and boosting consumption."

　　"Stepping up" is the keyword of this consumer goods trade-in policy, which is reflected both in the significant expansion of the scope of support and in the substantial increase in subsidy standards.

　　In terms of expanding scope, personal consumers' replacement and renewal of passenger vehicles, trade-ins of home appliances and electric bicycles, and the purchase of items and materials for renovating old homes, renovating kitchens and bathrooms, and home aging-friendly renovations have been included in the subsidy scope.

　　In terms of raising standards, auto subsidies have risen sharply. Among them, the subsidy standard for vehicle scrappage and renewal has risen from 10,000 yuan for purchasing a new energy passenger vehicle and 7,000 yuan for purchasing a fuel passenger vehicle to 20,000 yuan and 15,000 yuan, respectively. Many places have also raised the subsidy standards for replacement and renewal. For example, Shanghai has raised the subsidy standard for personal consumers trading in for a new pure electric passenger car to 15,000 yuan and the subsidy standard for fuel passenger vehicles to 12,000 yuan.

　　In terms of home appliances, purchasing 8 categories of home appliance products—refrigerators, washing machines, TVs, air conditioners, computers, water heaters, household stoves, range hoods and others—that meet energy efficiency or water efficiency standards of Grade 2 or above allows consumers to enjoy a subsidy standard of 15% to 20% of the sales price, with a maximum subsidy of 2,000 yuan per item.

　　At the same time, localities are supported in independently determining the "8+N" categories of home appliance varieties eligible for subsidies. Sanlihe noted that many places have added "optional measures" to further broaden the types of subsidies; in some places, even mobile phones are subsidized.

　　For example, Guangdong added 3 categories of products including mobile phones, tablets and smart wearable devices. The subsidy standard for mobile phones is 10% of the product sales price, with a maximum subsidy of 1,000 yuan per item; the subsidy standard for tablets and smart wearable devices is 15% of the product sales price, with a maximum subsidy of 2,000 yuan per item. Shenzhen further added 6 categories of products—consumer drones, consumer robots, 3C servers, projectors, smart sports equipment (including action cameras), coffee machines and others—to the subsidy scope.

　　Trade-ins of electric bicycles have also begun to be implemented. For example, Shenzhen proposed promoting the renewal of about 250,000 electric bicycles citywide, granting personal consumers a subsidy of 20% of the new vehicle sales price, with a maximum amount of no more than 800 yuan.

　　Zhu Keli, executive director of the China Information Association and founding president of the Guoyan New Economy Research Institute, said in an interview with Sanlihe that the strengthening and expansion of the consumer goods trade-in policy has made subsidies more powerful and coverage broader, thereby effectively stimulating consumers' enthusiasm for replacement purchases, directly promoting consumers' willingness to buy, and boosting growth in the consumer market.

　　Consumption is showing positive signs. In July, total retail sales of consumer goods grew 2.7% year on year, 0.7 percentage points faster than the previous month.

　　As the world's second-largest consumer of goods, China is striving to promote consumption growth, which is not only conducive to improving people's well-being but will also provide more development space and business opportunities for Chinese and foreign enterprises.