(Yicai) March 25 -- Several experts, scholars, and business leaders have shared their views on how China could boost consumption and increase demand at the China Development Forum 2025 Annual Conference that wrapped up yesterday.

They emphasized that boosting consumption is a systematic project that requires coordinated efforts from multiple sectors and suggested that China's economic vitality and potential could be further unleashed by addressing structural issues, increasing household income, and optimizing the consumption environment.

"Despite China's consumption scale being substantial, its proportion to the national economy and demand remains relatively low, with a gap of about 20 percentage points compared to developed countries,” Han Wenxiu, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, said at the CDF opening ceremony on March 23.

China should implement measures, such as government fiscal subsidies, state-owned capital transfers, and improve the rural pension contribution system, which could be achieved relatively quickly, said Liu Shijin, former deputy president of the China State Council's Development Research Center.

An increase of about CNY1 trillion (USD137.7 billion) in rural pension expenditure could drive the gross domestic product by about CNY1.2 trillion, contributing nearly 1 percentage point to the annual economic growth and playing a crucial role in stabilizing growth, Liu noted.

China's relatively weak consumption is primarily due to the population's low disposable income, according to Liu Qiao, dean of Peking University's Guanghua School of Management.

It is necessary to introduce comprehensive reforms for income distribution, particularly regarding wage raise mechanisms and social welfare systems, to build positive expectations for future income support, said Liu Yuanchun, president of the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

If the Chinese stock, real estate, and financial markets could provide property income comparable to the United States, the resulting increase in disposable income would fundamentally transform China's consumption patterns, Liu Qiao pointed out.

Therefore, China must maintain stability in the real estate and stock markets, as they are crucial pillars for wealth and balance sheet stability, Liu Yuanchun noted.

On March 16, China launched a special action plan to boost consumption, aiming to enhance residents' consumption potential by increasing household income, ensuring consumption security, upgrading service quality, upgrading bulk consumption, enhancing consumer product quality, improving the consumption environment, eliminating restrictive measures, and perfecting consumption support.

China's retail sales of consumer goods rose 2.5 percent to CNY48.7 trillion (USD6.7 trillion) last year from the year before, according to official data.

Editor: Futura Costaglione