The annual tone-setting Central Economic Work Conference vowed to vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency, and expand domestic demand on all fronts next year.

While the country used to rely on investment and exports for economic expansion, consumption has increasingly played a predominant role in recent years under its strategy of advancing a "dual-circulation" development pattern, which takes the domestic market as the mainstay while allowing domestic and international markets to reinforce each other.

In the first three quarters of 2024, consumption contributed 49.9 percent of the country's economic growth, substantially surpassing investment and exports, which accounted for 26.3 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively.