Passengers arrive in Beijing Daxing International Airport on June 1 as domestic flights gradually recover in China. Photo: cnsphoto

Beijing will issue 1.5 million vouchers starting from Sunday, after the sudden spike in coronavirus cases related to a local food market ebbs, Beijing officials said over the weekend, marking a restart in efforts to boost consumption and shore up the economy after a one-month battle.

The 1.5 million vouchers include 1 million offline coupons for catering and 500,000 for intelligent products. Beijing consumers will be able to access these coupons via the JD.com app.

In addition, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) will launch coupons worth 50 million yuan ($7.13 million), as part of the campaign to stimulate consumption. The coupons will be distributed through the ICBC app, with consumers also able to access them on other platforms including Alipay, WeChat and JD.com in the future.

Local officials also noted that more service companies in the dining and retail industries will join the shopping campaign at the beginning of August. Furthermore, local government will provide more subsidies to merchants in terms of discounts to consumers in order to alleviate businesses' financial woes.  

Global Times