(Yicai) Jan. 24 -- China's commerce ministry will advance special actions and introduce more practical and effective policies to comprehensively boost consumption and domestic demand this year, according to a vice minister of commerce.

The government will upgrade commodity consumption, expand the scope of the consumer goods trade-in program initiated last year, and accelerate the integrated development of domestic and foreign trade, Sheng Qiuping said at a press conference today, citing this year's work outlined by the Central Economic Work Conference.

Moreover, the government aims to expand service consumption and tap into consumption growth. It will strive to improve service quality for public benefit and steadily promote the opening up of the service industry.

The government will cultivate new consumption with enhanced momentum. It will promote the startup economy, artificial intelligence products and services, the ice and snow economy, and the silver economy, referring to activities designed to meet the needs of senior citizens. It will also develop digital, green, and healthy consumption trends.

Finally, China will innovate new scenarios to stimulate consumption vitality. It will carry out a series of consumption expansion activities, deepen the construction of international consumption hubs, implement urban pilot projects to form modern circulation systems, foster retail innovation and upgrading, and promote the transformation and quality improvement of urban and rural commerce.

China's total retail sales of consumer goods reached CNY48.8 trillion (USD6.73 trillion) last year, an increase of nearly 4 percent from 2023. Sales of subsidized cars exceeded 6.8 million units, while people bought around 62.8 million home appliances and almost 1.4 million electric bicycles through the trade-in program, driving CNY1.3 trillion (USD179.4 billion) in sales and raising the annual retail growth by one percentage point, according to Sheng.

Additionally, the number of foreigners entering the five international consumption center cities of Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin, and Chongqing doubled last year compared to 2023, Sheng concluded.

Editor: Emmi Laine