China holiday consumption withstands travel curbs
SPLURGING: Robust consumption over the holiday helps China’s economy recover, but the spending was far below the yearly growth rates of 10 percent seen before COVID-19
Bloomberg
Chinese consumers splurged on restaurants, online sales and movies over the Lunar New Year holiday as travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for many of them to make their annual trips home.
Sales at “key” retailers and restaurants during the week-long holiday amounted to 821 billion yuan (US$127 billion), an increase of 4.9 percent from 2019 and up 28.7 percent from last year, when the economy was in lockdown, Chinese Ministry of Commerce data showed.