Will Chinese consumer spending catch up to support a broad economic recovery from coronavirus?
- Rebound in retail sales and household consumption in China lags behind investment, production and exports, fanning concerns that a broader economic recovery could be unsustainable
- Consumer spending accounted for 56 per cent of China’s gross domestic product last year
Shoppers and diners have returned en masse to Chunxi Road, the busiest commercial pedestrian street in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan.
Outside a hotpot restaurant, hungry patrons are turned away in the middle of the working day as the wait for a table surpasses 30 minutes. “The slots have run out,” the receptionist at Houtang repeatedly shouts at would-be walk-ins.
The scene stands in sharp contrast to the situation across the country in recent months, with coronavirus crackdowns taking a heavy toll on businesses’ bottom lines.
Face masks are still mandatory at most indoor venues in Chengdu, but the impact of the pandemic is gradually fading. At Taikoo Li, an open-plan, lane-driven mall near Chunxi Road, consumers line up to get their body temperatures checked.
The return of shoppers and diners in the Chinese city, famous for its pandas, spicy food and laid-back lifestyle, offers hope that the world’s second-biggest economy has put the coronavirus behind it, and that consumer spending – the weak link so far in the nation’s post-coronavirus economic recovery – is catching up.
