Chinanews, Beijing, Feb. 16 - The World Bank issued a report this week that tries to analyze Chinese low consumption level. According to this report, China's low consumption is not caused by Chinese people's enthusiasm for investment, but because of the low salary level in China, the Beijing Morning Post reported.

 

Investment, export trade and consumption have long been regarded as the three major driving forces boosting an economy. In China, consumption growth rate has, for a long time, lagged behind investment growth rate and export volume. Although Chinese annual consumption growth rate reached 13.7% last year and a booming consumption situation, which only appeared in the golden-week holidays in the past, had lasted for a whole month in December, the sporadic good performance in consumption could not conceal the fact that for a long time, consumption has remained sluggish.

 

The report from the World Bank shows that since the 1990s, the proportion of consumption to Chinese economy has kept declining. Currently, consumption ratio in China can not compare with that of the United States, or is even far below some developing countries like India.

 

While most scholars in the world attribute the low consumption rate to Chinese people's enthusiasm for savings, the World Bank gives a different reason. It says that the low consumption rate is caused by the low income level in China.

 

"Traditionally, most experts focus their attention on Chinese people's huge savings when analyzing the low consumption. In fact, the decrease in consumption can be explained by the changes of income to economy," says the report.

 

As an important criterion to gauge people's income level, Chinese people's salaries and their proportion to economy have kept declining over the past few years, from 53% nine years ago to 41.4% last year, far below the 57% consumption rate of the United States.