INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS NEWS - China's consumers are projected to spend more than up to $6.4 trillion a year by 2025, according to a new report.
That's about a 70% increase from the $3.7 trillion that consumers in China spent last year, according to a study by think tank Demand Institute.
Overall, consumption is estimated to grow by an average of 5.2% a year over the next decade, as wages rise and the Chinese become more aspirational in their spending, even as overall economic growth slows.
At that rate, cumulative consumer spending will hit a whopping $56 trillion between now and 2025, keeping China firmly in place as the second-largest consumer market in the world, after the United States.
This is largely in line with what the Chinese government is hoping for the domestic economy. Beijing is engineering a shift away from an export-led economy, toward one driven by higher consumption. It's been an uphill battle as China struggles with a slower growth rate -- the economy is now expanding at the worst pace since the 2009 financial crisis.
But even if overall GDP growth slows by as much as one percent going forward, the report indicates consumption would still grow by 4%. In other words, China appears to largely be on track.
