Mainland China, already a manufacturing powerhouse, has the potential to become the world’s largest consumer market within the next 10 to 15 years, driven by consumer spending on services where Hong Kong maintains a distinct competitive advantage, according to a prominent Chinese policy adviser.
The country’s share of global consumption could rise by about one percentage point every one to two years, surpassing 20 per cent over the next decade or decade and a half, said Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute for Reform and Development, a Hainan-based public policy think tank.
“China’s consumption level will gradually converge with that of most developed economies,” said Chi, who is also the president of the Hainan Institute for Free Trade Port Studies, a regional think tank also based in the province.
Mainland China becoming the world’s largest consumer market, he added, would make it Hong Kong’s “strongest economic anchor”.
“If China’s share of global consumption could eventually match its manufacturing share at around one-third, the country would become not only the world’s largest manufacturing hub, but also its largest consumer market and biggest importer,” he said.