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

At 9:00 a.m. on March 5, the opening session of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress was held at the Great Hall of the People. Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, on behalf of the State Council, delivered the Government Work Report to the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress.

The 2026 Government Work Report proposes promoting expanded and upgraded consumption of goods, arranging 250 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special government bonds to support trade-in programs for consumer goods and upgrades, and optimizing the policy implementation mechanism. It will set up a special fund of 100 billion yuan for fiscal and financial coordination to stimulate domestic demand, using a combination of methods such as loan interest subsidies, financing guarantees, and risk compensation to support the expansion of domestic demand.

Consumption is the main engine for driving economic growth. In 2025, China implemented special actions to boost consumption in depth. The scale of the consumer market continued to expand steadily. The total retail sales of consumer goods by society first exceeded 50 trillion yuan, and consumption’s contribution rate to economic growth reached 52%.

Since 2026, the trade-in program policy for consumer goods has been fully rolled out and focused with precision, covering key areas such as automobiles, home appliances, digital and smart products, effectively activating consumers’ potential and driving a strong start for the consumer market. Localities have also introduced supporting measures one after another, refining and implementing plans to help the trade-in policy deliver greater effects.

On February 14, Henan released the “Implementation Plan of Henan Province for Promoting Large-Scale Equipment Updates and Trade-Ins for Consumer Goods in 2026,” proposing to strive to complete around 5 million units of vehicle scrappage and replacement updates for individual consumers by the end of 2026, and around 500k units of trade-ins for home appliances. Starting from February 9, Beijing implemented a new subsidy scheme for automobile trade-ins, with the maximum subsidy amount up to 20k yuan.

With support from policies such as trade-ins, during the Spring Festival period, Guangdong’s consumer market saw momentum in multiple segments. Consumption structure continued to improve, with both supply and demand in service consumption remaining strong. Retail daily sales revenue of daily home appliances such as robotic vacuum cleaners increased by 137.9% year over year; retail sales revenue of communication devices such as smartphones increased by 53.1% year over year; and retail sales of new energy vehicles increased by 46.8% year over year. The trend of residents upgrading consumption became apparent.

According to data from the Ministry of Commerce, as of February 23, 2026’s trade-in program for consumer goods benefited 500k people and drove sales of 207.03 billion yuan. Demand for smart and green products remained strong. As of February 5, 2026, applications for automobile trade-in subsidies reached 335k, driving new car sales of 53.77 billion yuan.

On March 2, 2026’s National Consumption Promotion Month and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Consumption Season kicked off in Tianjin. The Ministry of Commerce said that the 2026 National Consumption Promotion Month and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Consumption Season, as a key special activity under “Buy in China,” will further optimize the implementation of trade-in policies for consumer goods, deepen new consumption business formats, models, and scenarios, expand the supply of high-quality goods and services, and promote the integration of first-release economy, healthy consumption, green consumption, and smart consumption across multiple scenarios, better meeting diverse and quality-focused consumer needs.

Trade-in policies for consumer goods are an important part of expanding domestic demand and boosting consumption. On March 4, at the press remarks during the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress, Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the Fourth Session of the 14th National People’s Congress, said that this year, China will adhere to expanding domestic demand as the strategic cornerstone, vigorously boost consumption, and advance efforts to build a strong domestic market.

On the one hand, it will expand the supply of high-quality consumer goods and services. Implement actions to improve service consumption and benefit the people, and accelerate the cultivation of new growth points in service consumption; optimize trade-in policies for consumer goods to promote expanded and upgraded goods consumption; create an internationalized consumption environment, enrich consumption scenarios, and hold the “Buy in China” series of activities well.

On the other hand, it will insist on closely integrating benefiting people’s livelihoods with promoting consumption. Promote high-quality employment; formulate and implement plans to increase income for urban and rural residents to enhance residents’ consumption capacity. Proceed steadily with equalization of basic public services, improve the education, childcare, elder care, and medical security systems, and reduce residents’ worries about consumption after the fact.

“This year, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will carry out oversight on building a unified domestic market and solidly promoting comprehensive rural revitalization, among other areas. It will formulate laws on social assistance, medical security, and childcare services, and promote more resources being invested in areas related to people’s well-being, so that people can consume, dare to consume, and are willing to consume.”

(Editor: Wen Jing)

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