The 'Two New' Policies Inject New Momentum into High Quality Development

The spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics recently introduced that driven by equipment updates, the added value of industries such as shipbuilding and related equipment manufacturing, and motor manufacturing increased by 29.7% and 15.9% respectively in July; Driven by the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods, electric bicycles and 5G smartphones increased by 45.3% and 8.1% respectively in July.

Practice has shown that the "two new" policies are promoting industrial upgrading, consumption expansion, and optimization of economic cycles on multiple levels, and the policy dividends are constantly transforming into development momentum. The Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the need to strengthen the implementation of the "two new" policies, innovate diversified consumption scenarios, expand service consumption, and promote the development of cultural tourism. Actively develop the primary economy, ice and snow economy, and silver economy. This deployment not only points out the direction for the "two new" policies, but also demonstrates its strategic significance in implementing high-quality development, cultivating new productive forces, and shaping new competitive advantages.

From the investment perspective, the "two new" policies are profoundly reshaping the pattern of industrial development. Large scale equipment updates not only directly drive investment growth, but also play a key role in promoting industrial structure optimization and transformation and upgrading. Data shows that with the deepening of China's new industrialization and urbanization, many existing assets have entered a peak period of scrapping and renewal, and the market size for equipment renewal can reach over 5 trillion yuan per year. In 2024, 150 billion yuan of ultra long-term special treasury bond funds will be allocated to support more than 4600 projects in 12 fields, including industry, environmental infrastructure, transportation, logistics, education, culture and tourism, medical care, energy and power, old elevators, customs inspection equipment, energy consumption equipment, recycling and recycling, to promote equipment renewal. In 2025, the capital scale of ultra long term special treasury bond to support equipment upgrading will increase to 200 billion yuan, and the scope of support will expand to equipment upgrading and industrial software upgrading in electronic information, safety production, facility agriculture and other fields.

The changes in the manufacturing industry are particularly significant. As the core pillar of the real economy, the manufacturing industry is accelerating its development towards high-end, intelligent, and green direction under policy promotion. In the first half of 2025, the investment structure will continue to be optimized and improved. In the first half of 2025, the manufacturing investment will increase by 7.5%, accounting for 25.2% of fixed assets investment, 1.1 percentage points higher than the same period last year; Investment in high-tech services increased by 8.6%, which was also significantly higher than the growth rate of fixed assets investment. The transformation and upgrading of traditional industries are steadily advancing, with high-tech manufacturing performing particularly well: in the first half of the year, the added value of high-tech manufacturing above designated size increased by 9.5% year-on-year, contributing 23.3% to the growth of all industries above designated size. From an industry perspective, driven by the rapid development of emerging industries such as commercial aerospace and domestically produced large aircraft, the aviation, spacecraft and equipment manufacturing industry grew by 8.4%, with spacecraft and launch vehicle manufacturing, aircraft manufacturing, and aerospace related equipment manufacturing growing by 58.6%, 18.0%, and 16.1%, respectively. This series of data indicates that the "two new" policies are driving the transformation of the manufacturing industry from "big" to "strong", injecting solid impetus into China's industrial development towards the mid to high end.

Compared with the supply side optimization highlighted by device updates, the trade in of consumer goods more directly reflects the potential release of the demand side. Consumption is not only an important engine for economic growth, but also a cornerstone for stable development. In recent years, the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth in the first half of the year has reached 52%, an increase of 7.5 percentage points from the previous year, fully leveraging its role as the main engine of economic growth. However, the development of consumption in our country still faces the practical task of expanding quantity, improving quality, and upgrading in parallel: it is necessary to further release potential consumer demand, expand the overall scale, and better meet the diversified, personalized, and green needs of the people for a better life through quality improvement and structural optimization.

In this context, the implementation of the trade in policy is in line with the trend of continuously upgrading China's consumption structure and helps to further expand the domestic market space. Through multiple means such as fiscal subsidies and price incentives, policies have effectively reduced the cost of exchange and stimulated residents' enthusiasm to purchase new products. The data shows that people's willingness to switch has significantly increased. More than 37 million consumers across the country participated in the home appliance trade in program, with over 1 million participants taking 33 days and the number of participants increasing from 1 million to 5 million in just 17 days. The fact shows that exchanging old for new is not only a price discount, but also an important way to unleash consumption potential and improve the quality of life.

More importantly, the "two new" policies not only focus on economic benefits, but also carry the strategic goal of green transformation. By accelerating the elimination of high energy consuming and high emission equipment and consumer goods, policies have promoted the popularization and application of low-carbon, energy-saving, and environmentally friendly products, providing solid support for achieving the "dual carbon" goal. In the field of home appliances, trade in has driven a significant increase in sales of green products such as energy-saving refrigerators, variable frequency air conditioners, and water-saving washing machines; In the field of automobiles, the penetration rate of new energy vehicles continues to increase, becoming an important choice for residential households to purchase.

Under a comprehensive recycling system, waste equipment and household appliances can be reused or remanufactured, which not only reduces raw material extraction and energy consumption, but also lowers waste emissions. This mechanism not only improves resource utilization efficiency, but also demonstrates the inherent logic of green development, enabling economic growth and ecological environment protection to achieve coordinated progress.

Overall, the "two new" policies have not only effectively improved the quality and efficiency of economic operation through coordinated efforts in industrial upgrading, consumption expansion, and green transformation, but also accumulated more solid institutional and practical experience for achieving high-quality development. With the continuous implementation of policies and the gradual allocation of funds, the "two new" actions will benefit enterprises and residents on a larger scale and at a deeper level, becoming an important force in promoting high-quality economic development in China.

Information source: Guangming Daily