chinas state planner on monday released a notice outlining measures to expand the countrys consumption as the postcovid recovery in the worlds second largest economy runs out of steam the national development and reform commission urged local governments to ease car purchase restrictions and roll out measures to stimulate new car purchases it told local officials to promote the use of electric vehicles in the countryside and upgrade ev charging infrastructure including the construction of battery replacement stations the state planner also pushed for the consumption of home appliances by rolling out tradein and recycling measures local governments could offer subsidies for rural consumers to buy and trade in home appliances it said in the notice chinas consumptiondrive recovery tapered in recent months after the initial strong rebound at the start of the year chinas retail sales a key metric for the nations consumption slowed to a 31 onyear increase in june from mays 127 growth the state planner said it would speed up approvals of movies shows sports events and other performances to stimulate sports and entertainment spending it also called for a better implementation of a paidleave system to promote traveling and the nations tourism which is one of the bright spots in domestic consumption this year the ndrc said it would push ahead with the renovation of old residential buildings by using special funds and housing provident funds as well as carrying out shantytown renovation in the biggest cities it would also renovate dilapidated houses in rural china it also encouraged the construction and renovation of shopping malls markets and convenience stores in rural areas to boost spending among local residents the state planner is also allowing consumptionrelated projects to raise funds from real estate investment trusts and asked financial institutions to cut interest rates on credit cards and consumption loans while lending more to the consumption sector