The year 2026 marks a critical juncture, serving as both the successful conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the commencement of the 15th Five-Year Plan. Facing a complex situation where external pressures intertwine with domestic structural contradictions, the Report on the Work of the Government sets the economic growth target at 4.5%-5% and, for the first time, prioritizes striving to build a robust domestic market as the foremost annual task. It explicitly proposes to both stimulate the endogenous drivers of household consumption and implement pro-consumption policies. This signifies a fundamental shift in the approach to boosting consumption: moving from reliance on short-term stimulus towards constructing a dynamic, circular, and endogenous growth ecosystem that integrates new infrastructure, new scenarios, and new demographics. The new growth drivers for consumption are deeply rooted in this systemic and profound transformation. Lijian SUN, Director of the Financial Research Center at Fudan Development Institute, and Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the School of Economics, Fudan University, was invited by 21st Century Business Herald to provide an in-depth interpretation of related issues. He believes that the 2026 Report on the Work of the Government marks this crucial shift in consumption promotion strategy. The core of new consumption growth lies in building this tripartite, dynamically circular endogenous ecosystem. New scenarios aim to overcome supply strength amid weak demand through innovative supply. The proliferation of AI agents and the expansion of three-dimensional consumption via the low-altitude economy, combined with increased investment in elderly and childcare services, will foster new consumption forms like the silver economy and experience economy, creating new demand through high-quality supply. New demographics focus on the elderly, children, low-income groups, and new forms of employment. By enhancing livelihood security and income growth plans, precautionary savings can be reduced, transforming potential demand into effective demand and reshaping the demographic foundation of consumption. New infrastructure provides the underlying support, constructing a digital-low-altitude-data three-dimensional system. Intelligent computing clusters, low-altitude infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks underpin new consumption, while traditional infrastructure is also upgraded for consumption, lowering transaction costs. These three elements are closely interlocked and mutually reinforcing, forming a virtuous cycle. The key to China's consumption growth is not simply about giving out money to spur consumption, but about systematically activating people, empowering goods, and transforming spaces through institutional innovation, technological empowerment, and livelihood security. This aims to achieve more resilient and sustainable high-quality consumption growth, thereby solidifying the consumption foundation for Chinese-style modernization.

Translated by Yiqian YANG

Full text in Chinese available at:

https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/c6/27/c18965a771623/page.htm