China has announced a wide-ranging “special action plan” to promote domestic spending, in an effort to counter the economic impact of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

Beijing’s leaders are ordering fiscally strapped local governments to spend more to help workers, consumers and businesses.

Retail sales increased 4 per cent in January-February from the same period a year earlier. Read more at straitstimes.com.

BEIJING] China’s retail sales growth quickened in January to February in a welcome sign for policymakers’ efforts to boost domestic consumption even as joblessness rose and factory output eased, underscoring the strains on an economy facing fresh US tariff pressure.

China’s leaders have spent the past week unveiling their plan to steer the world’s second-largest economy through looming challenges by transforming the country into a technological powerhouse and ramping up spending to hit an ambitious growth target.

The plan comes as levels of consumer demand in China have suffered various setbacks in recent years, due to factors such as COVID-19 disruptions and a prolonged property slump, chilling the propensity of households to spend and adding to deflationary trends.