[ad_1]
In July last year, Chinese regulators fined Jack Ma-backed Ant Group nearly $1 billion for “illegal activities” in areas such as corporate governance, financial consumer protection, and participation in business activities of banking and insurance institutions.
The penalty ends an investigation into the tech giant launched in 2020.
The investigation is seen as the beginning of the government’s tough measures against the country’s most influential technology companies and billionaire entrepreneurs.
In July 2021, China announced a severe crackdown on private tutoring classes to reduce the academic burden and pressure on students.
The restrictions include requiring after-school tutoring centers to register as nonprofit organizations and prohibiting online and offline tutoring during holidays and weekends.
Meeting diverse consumer needs
The 20 guidelines came after official data showed growth in the world’s second-largest economy April-June quarter growth of 4.7%That was the slowest pace of growth since the first quarter of 2023 and below the 5.1% forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Since strict epidemic prevention and control measures were lifted in late 2022, China’s continued sluggish real estate market and job instability are suppressing economic recovery.
An economist told the state-run news outlet Global Times that promoting high-quality service consumption would contribute to “balanced and sustainable growth of China’s economy.”
Peking University economist Cao Heping said that many of the service consumption areas mentioned above need further development to improve China’s national income level.
The proposed measures reflect “new ideas for promoting consumption growth,” one analyst wrote in a commentary published by the China Internet Information Center.
Liu Jintao, an associate researcher at Renmin University of China, wrote an article pointing out that measures such as developing the silver economy, opening up high-quality educational resources, and meeting the diverse needs of society will help alleviate population aging.
They can also enhance people’s skills by meeting the “diverse consumption needs of relevant groups”, thereby achieving high-quality economic growth.
The government’s new plan to boost consumption was not included in the budget proposal.
Instead, the document says it plans to offset the costs of caring for children under three and the elderly through tax cuts.
Beijing has also pledged to ensure that eligible small businesses in the services sector have access to more financial support, particularly from banks.
The plan calls for more food-themed festivals and the promotion of local street food. It promises to encourage large foreign companies in the food and beverage industry to open their first stores in China.
Last month, Chinese leaders said the stimulus needed to achieve this year’s economic growth target would be For consumersThe move is a departure from their usual strategy of pumping large amounts of money into infrastructure projects, Reuters reported.
The world’s second-largest economy is facing deflationary pressures, with retail sales and imports lagging significantly behind industrial output and exports.
The Politburo, the Communist Party’s top decision-making body, pledged at a meeting in late July to conduct “countercyclical adjustments” to achieve its economic growth target of about 5% this year.
[ad_2]
Source link
