Growing willingness among urban Chinese to increase consumption: survey

BEIJING -- China's urban residents are more willing to increase consumption in the second quarter of 2023 compared with the previous quarter, according to a new central bank survey.

Of the 20,000 urban bank depositors surveyed in 50 cities across China, 24.5 percent expressed their willingness to increase consumption in the second quarter, 1.2 percentage points higher than the previous quarter, according to the survey conducted by the People's Bank of China.

The survey found that residents are hoping to increase their spending mostly on education, medical care and tourism in the third quarter of 2023.

Residents who tend to deposit more savings accounted for nearly 58 percent of the total respondents, up 0.1 percentage points from the previous quarter.

The proportion of respondents who are more willing to invest came in at 17.5 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Financial products from banks, brokerage firms and insurers topped the list of the preferred investment options for the respondents, followed by trust funds and stocks, according to the survey.