Beijing to Give $1.7 Billion in Vouchers to Boost Shopping

(Bloomberg) --

Beijing has joined dozens of other Chinese cities and will issue consumption vouchers to citizens, in an effort to encourage spending after retail sales collapsed following the coronavirus outbreak.

The Beijing municipality government plans to issue 12.2 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in consumption vouchers, which can be used to shop online or in physical stores in sectors including catering, shopping, tourism, education and sports. Distribution will begin Saturday.

Retail sales in the city slumped 20.4% in the first four months of the year, worse than the national decline of 16.2%, according to the local and national statistics bureaus. At least 50 cities across China have distributed vouchers amounting to more than 6 billion yuan via e-payment systems, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, including Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Shenzhen.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

With assistance from Bloomberg