The Central Economic Work Conference and this year's Government Work Report have both listed 'vigorously boosting consumption, improving investment efficiency, and expanding domestic demand in all aspects' as the top priority of this year's key tasks, and clearly proposed the implementation of special actions to boost consumption. "On the afternoon of the 17th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the relevant situation of boosting consumption, and Li Chunlin, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the meeting. The "Special Action Plan for Boosting Consumption" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") recently issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council was released to the public on the 16th. The "Plan" deploys 30 key tasks in 8 aspects, including promoting the increase of income for urban and rural residents, supporting the guarantee of consumption capacity, improving the quality of service consumption and benefiting the people, and clearing and optimizing restrictive measures. Why is boosting consumption so crucial? Consumption is the ultimate demand, which is not only related to economic development, but also to the people's aspirations for a better life Li Chunlin said that in recent years, all departments and local governments have earnestly implemented the "two new" policy, which was widely concerned by the people last year. The National Development and Reform Commission fulfilled the responsibility of the leading department, and in 2024, 150 billion yuan of ultra long-term special treasury bond funds were allocated to local governments to support the exchange of old for new consumer goods, driving the sales of cars, home appliances, home decoration, electric bicycles, etc. to more than 1.3 trillion yuan. For example, the Ministry of Commerce has taken the lead in promoting high-quality development of service consumption, and the State Administration for Market Regulation has launched a three-year action plan to optimize the consumption environment. Li Chunlin introduced that overall, China has remained the world's second largest consumer market for goods and the largest online retail market for more than ten consecutive years. The consumer demand and structure of residents continue to upgrade, and the proportion of service-oriented consumption expenditure continues to increase. New market space is still expanding. Li Chunlin stated that under the influence of multiple factors, there are still objective problems such as weak consumer confidence and expectations, partially unmet consumer needs, and the need to optimize the consumption environment. There is still a lot of work to be done to boost consumption, expand domestic demand, and better meet the needs of the people for a better life. Li Chunlin also stated that in the next step, the National Development and Reform Commission will work with relevant departments to effectively implement the "Plan" according to their respective responsibilities, strengthen coordination and linkage, improve work mechanisms, support various regions to explore practical measures according to local conditions, accelerate the formation of a strong policy synergy to promote consumption growth, and better meet the diverse consumption needs of the people at all levels. How will it be implemented specifically? How will relevant departments solve the difficulties faced by the masses? A good consumption environment is of great significance in enhancing consumer willingness Ji Xiaoling, the Market Inspection Commissioner of the State Administration for Market Regulation, stated that this year, the 12315 regulatory platform will be comprehensively upgraded, big data technology applications will be strengthened, consumer dispute resolution mechanisms will be promoted, grassroots consumer rights protection service networks will be expanded, and efforts will be made to resolve more consumer disputes in their infancy, achieving "zero distance" and "high efficiency" in consumer rights protection. Fu Jinling, Director of the Department of Economic Construction of the Ministry of Finance, said that in 2025, the Ministry of Finance will thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, and the proactive fiscal policy will "continue to make efforts and become more awesome", vigorously optimize the spending structure, further increase support for people's livelihood, strengthen medical care, education, old-age care, and employment security, and support the improvement of residents' consumption capacity. Mainly focusing on the following four aspects: firstly, supporting and strengthening employment priority policies; Secondly, support the improvement of basic elderly care and basic medical security levels; Thirdly, support the improvement of the level of basic public health services; The fourth is to support the key guarantee of education investment. In addition, the Ministry of Finance will continue to strengthen funding investment, support and ensure the basic livelihood of disadvantaged groups, and cooperate with relevant departments to further improve the childcare and elderly care service system, actively carry out research on the childcare subsidy system, and other work. We are confident in maintaining overall stability in the employment situation Chen Yongjia, the head of the Employment Promotion Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, introduced that from the situation in the first two months of this year, a series of measures that are conducive to promoting employment are gaining momentum. Next, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will actively work with relevant parties to improve the working mechanism, strengthen the linkage between the upper and lower levels, explore more employment opportunities, and promote the implementation and effectiveness of policies. Li Gang, Director of the Market Operation and Consumption Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce, stated that as of March 16th, the total number of applications for car trade in has exceeded 1.32 million nationwide; Consumers have purchased over 26 million units of 12 major categories of household appliances for trade in, and over 41 million consumers have applied for 51 million subsidies for purchasing new digital products such as mobile phones. Next, the Ministry of Commerce will focus on the following four aspects of work: first, optimizing convenient services; Secondly, to prevent policy risks; Thirdly, smooth recycling chain; The fourth is to strengthen publicity and promotion. Che Shiyi, head of the Credit Market Department of the People's Bank of China, said that in the next step, the People's Bank of China will earnestly implement the requirements of the Plan, study and issue special documents on financial support for expanding consumption, strengthen the coordination of financial and fiscal policies, and industrial policies, and guide financial institutions to actively meet the diversified capital needs of various entities from both sides of consumption supply and demand. Mainly in the following four aspects: firstly, implementing a moderately loose monetary policy to create a favorable financial environment for expanding consumption; The second is to strike a good combination of consumer policies, support the improvement of consumer supply quality and benefit the people; Thirdly, optimize financial products and services to meet differentiated consumer demands; The fourth is to broaden the sources of funding for financial institutions and expand the supply of funds in the consumer sector. (New Society)