(Yicai) Dec. 12 -- China will carry on with national subsidies for trading in consumer goods and renewing equipment for the third straight year in 2026, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing a decision made at the country’s top annual economic policy conference.

The government will improve the implementation of large-scale equipment renewal and consumer goods trade-in policies next year to boost domestic demand, Xinhua said, citing objectives set out at the two-day Central Economic Work Conference that concluded yesterday.

The authorities will also stick to a domestic demand-driven approach to growth, build a strong domestic market, take further special actions to boost consumption, draw up plans to raise the incomes of urban and rural residents, and expand the supply of high-quality goods and services, Xinhua reported.

China introduced the national subsidy policies last year to speed the economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, allocating CNY300 billion (USD42.5 billion) of ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to fund them, split 50-50 between equipment renewals and consumer goods trade-ins.

This year, the government lifted the special treasury bond quotas for equipment to CNY200 billion and for consumer goods to CNY300 billion, while expanding coverage to include digital products such as phones and tablets.

Given the ongoing need to buoy consumption, next year’s allocation of ultra-long-term government bond funds to support consumption may rise to CNY800 billion (USD113.3 billion), Yuan Haixia, president of the China Chengxin International Research Institute, told Yicai.

But as earlier subsidy policies have drawn forward some consumer demand, reducing their effectiveness, policy adjustments should expand the scope of incentives toward services consumption and bring in livelihood-focused grants in areas such as childcare and employment, Yuan said.

In the first 11 months of this year, the trade-in program helped push consumer goods sales past CNY2.5 trillion (USD354.2 billion) and benefited 360 million consumers, according to commerce ministry data. Subsidies underpinned the purchase of 11.2 million vehicles, 128.4 million home appliances, and 90.2 million digital products.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev