250 billion in special national bonds support old-for-new exchanges, "real money" boosts consumption

Source: 21st Century Business Herald 21 Finance APP Author: Zhang Xu

On the morning of March 5, at 9:00 AM, the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress held its opening ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. Premier Li Qiang, representing the State Council, delivered the government work report to the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

The 2026 government work report proposed to promote the expansion and upgrading of commodity consumption, allocating 250 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special government bonds to support the replacement of old consumer goods, and optimizing the policy implementation mechanism. A special fund of 100 billion yuan for fiscal and financial cooperation to promote domestic demand will be established, combining methods such as loan interest subsidies, financing guarantees, and risk compensation to support the expansion of domestic demand.

Consumption is the main engine driving economic growth. By 2025, China will deeply implement special actions to boost consumption, with the scale of the consumer market steadily expanding. The total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 50 trillion yuan for the first time, with consumption contributing 52% to economic growth.

Since 2026, the policy of replacing old consumer goods has been fully implemented and precisely targeted, covering key areas such as automobiles, home appliances, digital, and smart products, effectively activating market consumption potential and promoting a good start for the consumption market. Various regions have also introduced supporting measures, refining implementation plans to enhance the effectiveness of the replacement policy.

On February 14, Henan Province released the “Implementation Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Updates and the Replacement of Consumer Goods in 2026,” aiming to complete the scrapping and replacement of about 500,000 personal consumer vehicles and the replacement of 5 million home appliances by the end of 2026. Starting February 9, Beijing has implemented a new subsidy scheme for replacing old cars, with a maximum subsidy of 20,000 yuan.

With the support of policies like the replacement program, Guangdong’s consumption market flourished during the Spring Festival, with a continuous optimization of the consumption structure and robust demand in service consumption. Daily retail sales of household appliances such as robotic vacuum cleaners increased by 137.9% year-on-year, retail sales of communication devices like smartphones grew by 53.1% year-on-year, and sales of new energy vehicles increased by 46.8%, indicating a clear trend of consumer upgrade.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, as of February 23, 2026, the replacement policy has benefited 31.127 million people, driving sales of 207.03 billion yuan. Demand for smart and green products is strong. As of February 5, 2026, applications for the car replacement subsidy reached 335,000, driving new car sales of 53.77 billion yuan.

On March 2, the 2026 National Consumption Promotion Month and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Consumption Season were launched in Tianjin. The Ministry of Commerce stated that the 2026 National Consumption Promotion Month and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Consumption Season, as a key thematic activity of “Buy in China,” will further optimize the implementation of the replacement policy for consumer goods, deepen new business formats, new models, and new scenarios for consumption, expand the supply of quality goods and services, promote the initial release of the economy, health consumption, green consumption, and smart consumption, and encourage the integration of business, travel, culture, and sports to better meet diverse and quality consumption needs.

The replacement policy is an important component of expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption. On March 4, spokesperson for the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress, Lou Qinjian, pointed out that this year, we will adhere to the strategic foundation of expanding domestic demand, vigorously boost consumption, and promote the construction of a strong domestic market.

On the one hand, we will expand the supply of quality consumer goods and services. We will implement actions to enhance service consumption quality and benefit the public, accelerate the cultivation of new growth points in service consumption; optimize the consumer goods replacement policy, and promote the expansion and upgrading of commodity consumption; create an international consumption environment, enrich consumption scenarios, and successfully hold a series of “Buy in China” activities.

On the other hand, we will combine the promotion of consumption closely with benefiting people’s livelihoods. We will promote high-quality employment, formulate and implement plans to increase the income of urban and rural residents, and enhance residents’ consumption capacity. We will steadily advance the equalization of basic public services, improve education, childcare, elderly care, and medical security systems, and reduce the worries of residents regarding consumption.

“This year, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will supervise the construction of a unified domestic market, solidly promote comprehensive rural revitalization, and formulate social assistance laws, medical security laws, childcare service laws, etc., to promote the investment of more resources into the field of people’s livelihoods, allowing the public to consume, dare to consume, and be willing to consume.”

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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